Who are rated seaplane pilots on POA? 'fess up.

jsstevens

jsstevens

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Just curious as to how many have float ratings and/or experience?

I am rated SES, but have only the training/checkride + 1.2 hours experience. I'm headed to get my MES shortly but realistically expect to never fly a multi engine seaplane again.

John
 
Not me, I don't float very well.

Plus not much water to land on where I live...
 
SES with like 5 total hours (only PIC being the checkride itself). Was a lot of fun and my plan is to one day have a house on a lake with a seaplane but that’s probably a decade or two from now, if not later.
 
I have a seaplane rating and for a while I owned a coot and Vivian but I never did haven't flying.

Coot Amphibian... gotta love spell check... NOT
 
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Rated. Thought about buying a seaplane, but too slow for what I would use an airplane for.
 
jsstevens said:
I am rated SES, but have only the training/checkride + 1.2 hours experience. I'm headed to get my MES shortly but realistically expect to never fly a multi engine seaplane again.
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That’s a problem with the rating. It’s almost impossible to rent a seaplane, so to use the rating you have to buy one. That’s fine, but last I knew you couldn’t get insurance until you had 100 hours or so.
 
Did it through Alaska floats and skis a couple of years ago in Talkeetna. Great intro to Alaska!

I’m building a super cub and might put it on floats eventually.
 
I’m rated but haven’t done any float flying for a couple of years now. There have been too many other things going on.
 
SES with about 8 hours. Would love to get back into it, but it's pretty far down the list at the moment, unfortunately.
 
Got the rating a long time ago, but only get to use it about once a year when we get together at Cadillac, Michigan the weekend before AirVenture. This year the airplane was down for maintenance, and we postponed the event until next year.
 
Rated with about 10 hours. Funnest thing in flying for sure…
 
My original flight instructor and I bought this PA12 on wheels. I flew it from Vermont to the Baumann Float factory in Wisconsin where we put it on floats and flew it to Tavares Florida for the winter then back to Vermont for the summer. The plan was to do that every year, but I only did the round trip one more time before the arrangement in Tavares fell through. We kept it in Vermont to use for instruction and sightseeing rides, which I loved doing, but after about 8 or 9 years it was just too burdensome to operate so we ended up selling it. I ended up with a few hundreds hours in it and hated to see it go. We sold it to a buyer in Alaska, who flipped it over landing on wheels on a frozen lake. When I checked the registry it was still registered but to a different owner.

It was a perfect sightseeing plane with two seats in the back and the wide pilot seat in the front.

profile.jpg
 
ASES with about 15 Hours in a J3 and a Searey. Building a Aventura HP Amphib Flying Boat. If the factory ever sends all the parts, I hope to have it flying this year.
 
Half Fast said:
That’s a problem with the rating. It’s almost impossible to rent a seaplane, so to use the rating you have to buy one. That’s fine, but last I knew you couldn’t get insurance until you had 100 hours or so.
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Jones Bros, where I got my rating will rent if you have 25 hours dual.
 
Half Fast said:
Where are they?
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Tavares, Florida. Not far from Orlando. Nearest airport is Leesburgh.


That's where we took our PA12 on floats, leased by them for the winter. There were NO Jones' and no brothers involved in the operation, but one of the founders was Eric Weaver, who flew their Twin Bee ampibian to Vermont in the summer for MES ratings.
 
Private ASES, 5.7 total hours..

One day plan on upgrading to Comm.
 
Hoping to do SES and MES next year after another deployment.
 
My favorite place to buy gas was Ocean Falls, B.C.

No one was EVER there and to gas your plane you just opened a valve and gravity-fed gas filled your tank. There was NO METER...........and you had to guess/estimate the amount you fed in.

This was the old days.........and then you would run your credit card through one of those old "swish-swish" machines and put their paper in a slot.

COMPLETE HONOR SYSTEM!! This is a modern photo. It was NOTHING like this 50 years ago!!

500px-Downtown_Ocean_Falls%2C_BC.jpg
 
Pvt ASELand & Sea, Owned 1/4 of N1188H, a 145 hp Aeronca 15AC Sedan on Edo 2000s. Accumulated ~ 80 hrs over 4 years. Now 86 & fully retired from Aviation.
 
Got my SES at Florida Seaplanes about 20 years ago in a Maule. After the check ride we flew up to Georgia and landed in the flooded ditch next to the Maule factory for a tour. My brother ended up buying an M7-235 but alas, we never put floats on it so I just keep carrying over that 10.5 SES hours in my logbook. If you do it when you are due for a BFR you can use pilot financial logic to convince yourself you're actually saving a couple hundred bucks because the check ride will cover your flight review requirements.
 
Multi-Sea ATP in a Widgeon 31 years ago and single engine sea from Darlene at Alaska Float Training a few years ago which was a blast.

Alaska Float and Tailwheel | Alaska Float Training

Learn to fly floatplanes and tailwheels on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. Expert instructors, scenic training at Scout Lake, Sterling AK. Float ratings, tailwheel endorsements, and bush flying adventures. (907) 252-2109
alaskafloattraining.com alaskafloattraining.com

30 hours Multi and maybe 6 single (super cub).
 
Got mine in Moose Pass. Most beautiful part of the world I’ve flown an airplane in. Just stunning.

alaskafloatratings.com

Home - Alaska Float Ratings

Alaska's ultimate backcountry floatplane training location provides a spectacular environment for Floatplane and Mountain Flying.
alaskafloatratings.com alaskafloatratings.com
 
William Pete Hodges said:
I have a seaplane rating and for a while I owned a coot and Vivian but I never did haven't flying.

Coot Amphibian... gotta love spell check... NOT
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We enjoy it—it’s been a real fun magic carpet ride for us—great performer and just brings smiles.
 
Silvaire said:
Got my SES at Florida Seaplanes about 20 years ago in a Maule. After the check ride we flew up to Georgia and landed in the flooded ditch next to the Maule factory for a tour. My brother ended up buying an M7-235 but alas, we never put floats on it so I just keep carrying over that 10.5 SES hours in my logbook. If you do it when you are due for a BFR you can use pilot financial logic to convince yourself you're actually saving a couple hundred bucks because the check ride will cover your flight review requirements.
Click to expand...
They look very cool—seems like they are a little lacking on the UL side of life—like 800lb or so I think
 
EdFred said:
Rated. Thought about buying a seaplane, but too slow for what I would use an airplane for.
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They aren’t fast—but I’ve had fast planes—Barons/310—the fun factor is off the chart.
 
Me, all private, about 1000 hours of float time in three planes I’ve had with 4 sets of floats. I bought a float plane before I got my PPL. Flying them was fun, mostly, but owning them is a pain. Visiting a float plane is required pretty much daily to pump floats because aluminum floats all leak. They’re harder to tie down, especially in winds. Taxiing in winds can be nerve-wracking. Fueling is more difficult and amount of fuel carried is more critical. Nobody watches weight like a float pilot. Insurance rates are double or more than a wheel plane. Wearing waders and a vest all the time sucks. I don’t miss it, I’ll never put one of my planes on floats again.
 
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Stewartb said:
Me, all private, about 1000 hours of float time in three planes I’ve had with 4 sets of floats. I bought a float plane before I got my PPL. Flying them was fun, mostly, but owning them is a pain. Visiting a float plane is required pretty much daily to pump floats because aluminum floats all leak. They’re harder to tie down, especially in winds. Taxiing in winds can be nerve-wracking. Fueling is more difficult and amount of fuel carried is more critical. Nobody watches weight like a float pilot. Insurance rates are double or more than a wheel plane. Wearing waders and a vest all the time sucks. I don’t miss it, I’ll never put one of my planes on floats again.
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Aren’t there now some composite floats more water tight?
 
Kent Wien said:
Multi-Sea ATP in a Widgeon 31 years ago and single engine sea from Darlene at Alaska Float Training a few years ago which was a blast.

Alaska Float and Tailwheel | Alaska Float Training

Learn to fly floatplanes and tailwheels on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. Expert instructors, scenic training at Scout Lake, Sterling AK. Float ratings, tailwheel endorsements, and bush flying adventures. (907) 252-2109
alaskafloattraining.com alaskafloattraining.com

30 hours Multi and maybe 6 single (super cub).
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Wow.

A widgeon?
 
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