Notes about sailing In very high wind, you may try sailing with the engine at idle (if you don’t make backward progress like you want, shut down) Sail with water rudders up Point your tail where you want to go (in a float plane or hull airplane) If sailing into a shoreline or dock, consider… Continue reading Sailing
Topic Category: Seaplane
Beaching, Docking, and Ramping
Beaching Beaching can be easy, you are basically just coasting in and cutting power 20-50′ from the beach depending on wind and speed to simply coast into the beach. You may want to raise the water rudders just before approaching the shore to prevent them from dragging on the bottom. If you are at all… Continue reading Beaching, Docking, and Ramping
Anchoring and Mooring
Anchoring If you’ve ever anchored a boat, you can likely anchor a seaplane. Some things to think about when anchoring your plane is where to tie the anchor line to, and how much “scope” to use. The scope is the ratio between the depth of the water and rope length to the anchor (the anchor… Continue reading Anchoring and Mooring
Forced Landings in Open Water
The video above may look like rough water and it sort of is. It is choppy, but small choppy waves may not be the end of the world. The super short distance between the waves reduces the hazard as they are so tightly spaced together they have little pitching effect on the seaplane (keep in… Continue reading Forced Landings in Open Water
Forced Landings on Land and Lakes
Power Off Landings (water) Power Off Glassy Water Landing Forced Landing on Land This isn’t quite as bad as you might expect. Picking a “soft” spot to land on, such as a golf course, soft marsh, or even a paved runway all can result in minimal damage to the floats or hull. As you might… Continue reading Forced Landings on Land and Lakes
Crosswind Landing
Crosswind Landing Notes Use the shoreline for visual cue if you are drifting. Ensure you touch down without sideways drift. Do not rely on the water surface to guess sideways drift. One float or one sponson in the water at a time causes noticeable yawing tendency, be ready with rudder to control direction. Transitioning from… Continue reading Crosswind Landing
Crosswind Takeoff
Controlled Weathervaning Crosswind Takeoff Flying Boat
Confined Area Takeoff
Maximizing your space This is a great time to make a curved takeoff. Whether you are simply making a big arc, or step taxiing with a 90 degree turn into the wind, or any other number of creative ways to reduce the takeoff run there are a few basic rules that will always apply. They… Continue reading Confined Area Takeoff
Glassy Water Landing
The setup Choose a LVR as low as possible to the shoreline (crossing a high LVR like a tall tree means you will use much more water) Pitch, power, and airspeed Maintain the correct pitch attitude and power setting, and your airspeed and sink rate should take care of themselves It is a good idea… Continue reading Glassy Water Landing
Glassy Water Takeoff
A few tips on glassy water takeoffs and decreasing your takeoff distance: Step taxi around the lake and rough up the surface Use aileron to help “roll” a float off the water, reducing the water drag to just one float (be ready to control your direction with rudder as you introduce the yawing tendency from… Continue reading Glassy Water Takeoff