Your tax dollars at work.

We have all joked about wasteful government spending. There is plenty. We all pay taxes and grimace when we give a huge percentage of our hard earned paychecks to the Federal government. Sometimes we forget that we really are the luckiest people on the planet. We live in a country where we have opportunities and freedoms unlike anywhere else in the world.

Every time I get into an aircraft and get to fly over this great land I try to appreciate the sacrifices of people that I will never know that allow us these freedoms.

At WaterWings I often have the privilege of training some of our military personnel in the art of seaplane flying. This is a particular thrill. I have trained students from Maxwell AFB, Columbus AFB, Fort Rucker and many other fine installations. I have had students who fly T-6s, Black Hawks, Comanches, Apaches, C-130s, C-17s, CH-47s, F-16s, F-18s, and this weekend I got to know an F22 pilot.

These pilots are always consummate professionals. I can show them how to perform a maneuver and they can do it as well or better than me in just a few tries. I get to hear stories about their training and some of their adventures, and I am humbled, amazed and honored to share seaplane flying with them. These are guys that are flying amazing equipment and have been trained by the best to be the best, and it shows. And we, at WaterWings, get to actually show them something new. They get great joy in driving my Cessna 150 with the ungainly pontoons around Lake Martin.

I get to fly my little airplane around the state of Alabama and beyond freely and without fear-- because these brave, highly skilled, highly trained aviators are equipped with truly extraordinary aircraft. All of this takes money, but more so it takes the dedication of our armed forces who are willing to put themselves in harm's way so that we can be as fortunate as we are.

Protecting the seaplane from insects

Dirt daubers and wasps are my biggest trouble makers.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mud_dauber

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasp




Both of these guys can crawl into remarkably small holes and build nests. Tbe dirt daubers are generally harmless except for two things. They look a lot like wasps, which to the uninitiated can cause screaming, and they build nests out of mud and clay. Dirt daubers have just a couple of yellow stripes while wasps will have many yellow stripes down their stingers.




There is an unlimited supply of clay around our lake and there is an almost unlimited number of holes for dirt daubers to sneak into your plane to make a nest. These nests are mostly just heavy, thus reducing your payload. Your best bet for protection is to put steel wool in any large openings and put screen over the smaller ones that you can get to. I do an annual purge of the nests after the spring nesting season.




Wasps make a more paper-like nest. These are light and don't really cause much of an issue, but the wasps themselves CAN cause havoc in the cockpit. Many people have severe or even fatal reactions to a wasp sting, so these guys are not to be trifled with. Prevention using the same method as dealing with dirt daubers is your best bet, and if you get a wasp loose in the cockpit, don't panic, just let your training step in and FLY THE PLANE.

Protecting the seaplane from birds

We have three kinds of critters that attack our plane. We will take them on one at a time.




Birds like planes. They have lots of places to perch. Planes have many orifices in which build nests. Planes are generally tougher for bird predators to get into. Birds are experts at building nests. They pick a spot and they start bringing in materials. In our neck of the woods, pine straw is the chosen building material.




Hangar doors are pretty good at keeping out most birds, assuming that they are closed and attached to a fairly secure hangar. The next best bet is a set of cowl plugs. I purchased a set from Bruce's Custom Covers http://www.aircraftcovers.com/ for less than $100. These are nicely made to fit your plane and generally have your N-Number embroidered into the cover. They even have little idiot flags that stick up beyond the cowling to signal that you should not start the engine with them installed. I imagine the spinner would catch on the string that holds the plugs together and it would rip them out and toss them aside, before they could let the aircooled engine cook itself, but I know of instances where pilots have taken off with the plugs intalled only to cook the engine. So use these during a post flight and don't forget to remove them during the preflight.




I have still had one bird nest problem even when using the plugs. The bird went in through the hole in the bottom of the cowling where the hot air gets out of the engine and the nose wheel would protrude, if I had one. I am very happy with my plugs and I use them religously. My only issue with them now is they matched the old paint scheme and they have the old N-Number on them. I can live with it. The plugs that came with my plane were just cut out pieces of foam that someone drilled a hole in for the rope that tied them together. The vinyl covered plugs are much nicer and neater to work with. Do a thorough preflight. Look for telltale pieces of pine straw around and on the plane. If you find some, investigate thoroughly.

The other problem planes have with birds is the droppings. These are corrosive to aluminum and at best they can stain your paint. I had bird stain all over the wings of my Cub from where the previous owner let this happen and did not clean the droppings off quickly enough. I have not found a solution for fixing the paint. Statues and blow up representations of predatory birds and snakes in the vicinity of your plane will help scare off some of these intruders. If you have droppings on your paint, deal with them immediately. Damage can start in 24 hours.

Sun-N-Fun

My wife and I made our annual pilgrimage to Sun-N-Fun, in Lakeland, Florida last week. This is a fly-in of significant proportions. They were expecting 170,000 aviation enthusiasts. I don't actually know the total for this year. There are literally thousands of airplanes that fly into the event which lasts almost a week. There are airplanes and airplane people as far as the eye can see. The weather was nearly perfect except for a wind that kept blowing our caps off, but kept things nice and cool in the Florida sun. For such a massive event it is amazingly well organized and pleasant. Everything is clean and the people you meet are very friendly. As you can imagine, we all have aviation in common, so the conversation is easy. We always end up running into people we know from home.

There is something for everyone who likes planes. There are warbirds, ultralights, helicopters, antiques (which most of our planes qualify), military, experimental, and of course seaplanes.

On Thursday they have a splash in at Fantasy of Flight about 20 miles northeast of the main fly-in. This really is a treat. There are seaplanes continually landing and taking off from the lake in front of hundreds of seaplane enthusiasts as well as plenty of planes to look at on the beach and amphibians in the field. We could have stayed there all day, but we had to head home to Birmingham.

We left out of Clearwater Airpark in our Piper Twin Comanche, loaded with four people and gear for the 2.5 hour trip home. It was a just about perfect and bump free flight. We even had a little tail wind.

Winter Seaplane Care

I try to be aware of the winter's effect on my plane. I always position the prop after a flight (mags off verified) vertically such that any water will drain from the spinner, rather than letting it freeze in the bottom. I pump my floats after each day's flight to avoid freeze damage. Floats are really expensive to repair.

It is important to allow proper warm- up time for the engine. It is very easy and tempting in a seaplane to take the engine for granted and just hop in, taxi clear of the dock, and blast into the crystal clear sky. This is very bad with cold oil thick as molases. Seals can be blown. Metal can be unprotected. I like to see a reasonable indication on the CHT even before run up..

Fall Seaplane Flying in Alabama

This is really the best flying of the year. We can at last enjoy wake free lakes and relatively long days. Gone is much of the bumpiness and intense heat of summer afternoons. Our weather becomes consistent for days on end, for better or worse. From the air, the changing trees create unique patterns on the landscape as they explode into color.

Fall pilots enjoy the added bonus of actually getting more of the rated horsepower from the engine—pretty exciting after enduring high density altitudes all summer.This is also the time of year to get night current again (in your land plane), as well as getting comfortable with windier days following fronts. With the season's new flying pleasures, however, comes the need for alertness to different kinds of seasonal water hazards.

As lake levels fall (typical for this time of year), the risks of boat traffic are replaced with those from unmarked shallow areas. The receding water reveals new spots which were not marked with bouys during summer's higher water levels. Be sure to do a good flying survey of your prospective landing area before committing your floats to risk. The truly shallow areas can often be seen from a low pass. It's harder to see submerged logs and pilings, so be extra observant.

As days get cooler and the water gets calmer, it's really tempting to just fire up the engine and blast off. Be sure to taxi around long enough to allow the engine and oil to warm up to a reasonable operating temperature. Once in the air, enjoy the clear days and beauty of our great country. Most of all, appreciate the privilege and freedom of flight.

Things to do with a seaplane

We bought our seaplane in 1997. We had owned the lake house for five or six years by then, and I had spent lots of time growing up on that lake at my father's cabin. Once we got the plane it was really liberating. There was so much to explore and do.

Lake Martin has 750 miles of shoreline and there are lakes above and below it that are not accessible by boat, and impractical in a car. I originally envisioned taking the seadoo or the fishing boat on a trailer to these other lakes, but this never happened because of the effort involved.

Boats are generally so slow and expensive to operate from a fuel standpoint that getting very far on the lake is just not practical. Even a seadoo which you would think would be fast and efficient can only go about 50 mph for any length of time all the while burning 10 or more gallons per hour. The plane burns 8 gallons per hour while cruising easily at 100 mph. The very nature of the plane is to go far fast. You do miss some of the local scenery on the way, but there is so much other scenery you get from the plane view that you never see from the boat.

I was noticing yesterday all of the azaleas that are blooming in the middle of the woods. Unless you are a pilot flying low you would miss it. A whole world opened up to me and my family when we added the plane. My daughter and I go exploring on many weekends. We almost always get comments about how cool the plane is and we have seem way more of the lake in the last few years than I explored in the 30 years prior to having the seaplane.

We also use the plane to go and visit friends and until recently our old family lake house. We take the plane to lunch and dinner on the lake. A stir is caused when the plane pulls up. It is always a positive reaction. I will let people sit in the plane if they show interest. I love to encourage aviation interest and we do it wherever we go. We are very careful not to intimidate or annoy anyone with our activities, and it does take being careful. So we use it as a way to explore and a way to get to dinner.

I often take it to the lakeside country club for golf. We even use it to go pick up pizzas. The local Domino's will not deliver to our lake house because of the distance, but they will deliver to the local marina where I can fly in with the plane. The pizza guy really gets a kick out of delivering to a plane. Part of what makes our plane so practical is that it lives at our dock full time. I think it actually helps the property values.

Protecting the seaplane from wind and storms.

Our seaplane has no wheels and we have no water access to a hangar as yet. I dream of building a hangar on our lake lot, but most of my dreams like this are just not practical. I would probably spend fifty to a hundred thousand dollars to protect a fifty thousand dollar airplane. Whatever I build to protect the plane cannot reduce its utility by making it tougher to get it into the water and flying.


When I originally bought the plane it lived out of the water on a pontoon boat trailer. This got the plane out of the water, but left it vulnerable to trees, wind, and limbs. It also put the plane really high off the ground making it tough to tie down and tougher to preflight and fuel. The real clincher, though, was how tough it was to get onto the trailer in a high wind situation. Storms come up pretty darn quickly in Alabama. Usually the first indication is the gust front, and by the time that gets to us, we are already in trouble for threading the needle to put the plane on the trailer. It sits best on the trailer with the tail towards the trailer tongue, so that means a turn around on the water as well. I never had any issues or damage while doing these manuevers, although I personally got wet a few times. It became clear to me that I needed to keep the plane closer to the water and better tied down.


I built a U shaped dock to hold the plane which gave me multiple points to tie it up and tie it down. I then built a ramp in the middle of the slip and attached a winch and cables to lift the ramp/platform and the plane out of the water. This whole deal cost me a couple of weekends and about $2,000 including the wood, floatation foam and the winch. I was very proud of my engineering feat when I finished. This dock has provided me and the plane with years of protection and support. It has held up through several hurricanes and countless storms and boat wakes.


I am about to need a new winch, and my cabling corrodes and gives out every two or three years. The dock provides a great place to work on, fuel, and preflight the plane, and it has multiple points for tie downs. The support platform keeps the floats mostly out of the water and it keeps them stationary to the dock. When docking the plane, the platform acts like a ramp and keeps the floats from bashing into the back of the dock. The dock also weighs enough to hold the plane down during a storm, so it is secure at the dock. I can relax a little more when I hear about storms heading for Lake Martin. I still worry but just not quite as much. I still wish for a hangar.

Protecting the seaplane from the Alabama sun

The Alabama sun can be brutal. We have temperatures into the 100s sometimes for days from July through September. It is not a dry heat like Phoenix. This is a wet and sticky heat. Our plexiglass windows deteriorate in the sun. The UV rays break down the polymers and make the glass cloudy and eventually the plastic will craze and look almost shattered.




Our avionics and our bodies don't care much for heat either. UV rays also attack our upholstery and interior plastics. I use a cabin cover which I bought from Bruce's Custom Covers at http://www.aircraftcovers.com.%20these/ are very durable and easy to put on and take off. I have tried other brands which can be cheaper, but they were not as sturdy and they fell apart after just a few years.




The covers protect all of the glass in the plane as well as reducing the internal temperatures. I suspect it even helps prevent hail damage to the windows by providing a barrier. I have one of these covers for the Twin Comanche as well ,and when I have to park the plane outside for even a few hours, I install the cover to keep the plane from getting too hot during the warm months. I still wish for a hangar, but at $350-$400 vs $50,000 for a hangar, as well as easy on and off, the cover just has too many plusses.

Seaplane Passenger Briefing

Many of my first-time passengers are nervous about flying in a small plane—add that to the stress of flying in a seaplane. This is usually exacerbated during the pre-flight briefing when I mention the unlikely chance that we could be involved in an accident on the water; but it's also an opportunity to ease that tension with practical information and to mention seaplanes' excellent record in off-airport landings.

The briefing should cover the necessary topics while emphasizing the safety benefits of seaplane flying. On the positive side, seaplanes have several distinct safety advantages over land planes. To begin with, on Lake Martin we have about a 22 mile long runway ahead and 44,000 acres of runway below us almost the entire flight.

We have the option of landing on water or land without serious danger. Because the floats have very strong keels, seaplanes can be landed on grass safely without damage, or even on a concrete runway if necessary with minimal risk to the plane or occupants. All of that stucture below and in front of the passenger compartment helps to keep the plane upright.

Seaplanes fuselages also have structural enhancements to withstand the rigors of the water. The floats provide extra strength in front of and below the cockpit, which protects the occupants in the event of a landing accident.

The most serious issue in an accident is getting out of a sinking airplane. This is why pre-flight briefing is crucial. Passengers must be prepared for that unlikely event—they must be shown how to find and release seat belts, door, and window latches while upside-down, and the should feel free to kick out anything needed for egress. Finally they must know how and when to inflate life jackets.

The life jacket and the briefing—knowing what do and when in an emergency— should actually be a comfort to the wary first-time passenger, giving him/her a sense of security in the face of a new and exciting experience. Our life jackets are CO2 powered, but they must be manually activated and they must be worn. A life jacket in the back of the plane is of little use to someone who might be injured or cannot get access to the plane. At best it is a stressful activity to find the life jacket and actually put it on in the water.

I also like to include the standard type items in a briefing. How to use the seat belts. When the quiet times are. Too many pilots don't let their passengers know that there are times when a sterile and quiet cockpit are important. It won't do to have to tell this passenger to be quiet when you actually need to be concentrating on the task at hand.

Just be sure that you give your passengers a complete and rehersed briefing. You will look professional and make them feel more comfortable

Mooring Strategies

Never assume your airplane is going to stay exactly where you put it while it's on the water. My plane is fairly secure at its specially built seaplane dock, which raises it out of the water and provides multiple solid tie downs. If it's anywhere else, I am never really at ease.
Strange docks are probably the worst. You never know how well anchored their cleats are going to be, or how rough the structure of the dock will be on the floats (be wary of objects below the surface that can jab at the sides of the floats). I am also nervous about other (especially pontoon type) boats that have roofs that can hit my wings. Boaters are not accustomed to other boats having a 12 foot overhang out to the sides. So I worry about these roofs denting my wings, ailerons, flaps etc.

Beaching is another matter. If the wind is blowing directly into the beach, you are in better shape but otherwise you need to check on the plane all the time. I had one instance this summer when I went back to the plane, and a pontoon boat was in the place I had beached my plane, and the boat was using my rope still tied to the tree that I had tied off to! My plane was nearby but loose, and fortunately the wind was keeping it at the beach. I can't imagine doing this to another boat. When we take the plane to lunch dinner in the plane, I usually check on it every 15-20 minutes.

During the drought of 2007, I had to leave the plane at the beach for nearly 8 months, while the water kept going down and then while the water came back up. I had to move the plane every 2-3 days. As the water was going down, I had to move the plane out deeper to keep it from being stuck for the rest of the season on the beach. I would keep one line on the tail cleat and one on each wing tie down attached to a large auger type tie down screw. When the water was coming up. the danger is with the tie downs over stressing the wings by pulling down while the floats are pushing up. The other fear is that the plane will pull the screws out of the ground and thus be free to float away. This up and down issue can also be an issue in coastal regions where the tide may change several feet in the coarse of a day. A floating dock or constant attention are really the only options.

The seaplane base at Oshkosh uses bouys achored to the lake bottom. A line is tied to the front of each pontoon and the planes are allowed to rotate into the wind. This assumes a pretty protected area, a secure bouy and that your floats don't leak too much.

The best sollution is to get the plane out of the water, but that is not always possible or convenient.

Seaplane Right Of Way

The question of who has the right of way on the water comes up very often in training. An airplane on the water has the same right-of-way as any power boat. Logic (and the Marine Police Regulations) dictates that the less manueverable craft should have the right-of-way.
A vessel towing anything is supposed to have ultimate right of way. Sail boats and unpowered craft come next on the food chain. Then there are power boats. The fact is that we are much less manueverable than a power boat. Most seaplanes do not have reverse. We have no neutral. We have limited steering. While on the step (high speed taxi) we have even more limitted steering and stopping options. While in the plow attitude even our vision is limitted by the nose of the plane.

This only matters if the other boaters know or recognize our challenges. Unfortunately, this is not the reality. The other critical fact is that boaters greatly outnumber seaplane pilots. They will have a much better chance of getting us kicked off the lake than we would have of getting them to recognize we are not a threat to their safety and happiness.

Part of being a good seaplane pilot is to learn to be defensive if not transparent in all our actions. Don't fly low over houses and boats. Don't fly super early in the morning. Don't do anything that might scare the other boaters. Give way whenever there may be a question. I have heard boaters worry that a seaplane might lose control and crash into their pontoon boat on landing. I have no easy way to educate thus guy, and there are thousands more like him. Our best course of action is to expose these people to as many good examples of seaplane courtesy as we can.

Seaplane Landing Issues

Some of the most striking views and greatest flying adventures are afforded the seaplane pilot. You can never use the same water runway twice.

Our paved runways are hard and fixed. Fences keep the area as sterile and aviation-centric as possible. There is never a rogue wave that came from some distant truck on the interstate. We never have a 12-year-old on a 130hp SeaDoo trying to get a better look at the airplane taking off; or randomly cruising in and out of blind coves, completely oblivious of his surroundings. Seldom is there a power line strung across our intended runway. The FAA has done a fine job of making sure that our land runways are pretty free and clear of troubles. This is not to say that deer and recently giant lizards in Florida haven't made their way onto runways and that another plane might take the runway in front of us. We still have to be vigilant.

Simply landing or taking off from the water changes it. It creates waves that can last for hours. By the same token, there are few things in flying more satisfying than executing a perfect glassy water landing. Every landing and every day is a learning experience and a new piece of water conquered. Yesterday I was eying the river below Lake Martin. It was a perfect sheet of glass. I setup to land and as I was coming down I started noticing debris in the water and lots of it. It was mostly tree limbs and sometimes whole trees. I aborted my landing. Recent rainfalls have been pounding the state, causing the rivers to swell.

Land planes rarely have to worry about the depth of the runway, but to a seaplane this is an issue of great importance. Lake Martin is very clear and a simple fly over of the landing zone will show the orange clay bottom if the water is shallow. Rivers are almost always too murky to see the bottom. Some rivers in the state won't allow you to see more than a foot or two and if the bottom is a dark color then you will never see the problem area. Still it is worth the fly over to check for debris. If there is a current, shallow water will change the surface pattern on the water.

The last obstacle that I am going to talk about is probably the most important and usually the easiest to avoid. Boaters.... We have a great view of the landing zone as we turn to final. I like to look for any boater that might come into my area. Personal Watercraft, PWCs, are the most trouble, since they can change direction at the drop of a hat (sometimes literally as a cap blows off), and the are stupid fast. They can dart out from a dock or a hidden cove. PWCs are so loud for the driver that they will never hear a seaplane and they are so personal that the driver is ususally focused straight ahead. I am ever vigilant for these guys.

This is part of what makes seaplane training so important. The seaplane pilot has to be more aware of his surroundings. The good thing is that the surroundings are so interesting that it is not a chore at all.

Responsible Float Flying

We are fortunate to have many beautiful, clean lakes and rivers in which to play in Alabama. These are largely open to seaplane activity, while the majority of Georgia waterways are closed to seaplane traffic. We must cherish and protect the privilege of using our state’s wateways by being considerate of lake residents and boaters.
Most people living on the lake appreciate calm, quiet days, and almost none of them bought a lake house to be under an airport traffic pattern. Most of the comments I get from lake users are positive and they think the seaplane is pretty cool, but I am very careful not to frighten or annoy anyone.

Most of the time the seaplane attracts its own trouble. We will do two or three landing before boats start to congregate to watch the seaplane. The simple solution is to wave to the boaters and find a new place to play. During the summer and on busy lake weekends I try not to stay in one spot too long anyway.

There are many un-inhabited areas of the lake. Sometimes one side of the shore has houses and the other side does not. It is very easy to use a right hand pattern instead of left to use the side that does not have houses. Simple, painless and effective, but you do have to think about it to make it happen. I am also really carefull not to fly directly over houses climbing out when the engine is screaming. Just a few simple thoughts can keep a lake open to seaplanes.

Float protection at the dock

Floats are designed different from boats. Most boats are designed with the widest part about 2 feet above the waterline. Most docks are designed for boats with no attention paid to what is below the waterline. Floats are very fragile above the rub rail. A nail will go right through them. So we need to be carefull around docks.





One problem with floatplanes and docking is that fenders (boat bumpers) don't protect the floats. Why? Because the fenders float and the wide parts of the floats are actually below the water line. Here's a solution that actually will also keep the seaplane away from the dock and keep some light tension on the bow and stern ropes. Take a standard cylindrical boat fender and tie enough weight to the bottom of the float to just sink it. Attach a rope to the upper end of the fender and tie it or hook it to the wing tie down with enough length to set the fender next to the widest part of the float . The rope pulling on the tie down will actually pull the plane away from the dock thus providing a buffer zone.

Density Altitude and Seaplanes

Summer is really here in Alabama. With humidity like warm butter and temperatures heading into the 90s, the AWOSs are now reporting the density altitude is in the remarks section.

Any airplane will have to contend with loss of cool dense air to burn in the engine and the wings and prop will have to work harder for lift and thrust. Planes will continue to fly off the runway with about the same indicated airspeed as a 10 degree winter day, but the ground speed and true airspeed will be considerably higher as the density altitude increases since the air is thinner. This is just like what happens when the airplane climbs. Our airspeed drops and our true airspeed clims. The engine will produce less horsepower, the prop will be less efficient, and the wings will have to work harder to fly in the less dense air.

Seaplanes have one extra piece of drag as the ground speed, or water speed increases, water drag. Water drag is the seaplane's worst enemy as far as accellerating enough to take off anyway. When you take off from glassy water you can feel the suction of the water's grasp as it finally gives up and lets the airplane fly. Water drag increases at the square of speed, so as we accellerate, the water's effect on the plane increases dramatically. Land planes do not have this issue. This is another reason that seaplanes need to have extra horsepower, flatter pitched props, and STOL kits. It is not just that their owners have extra money to throw at their planes. The planes really need this stuff to get airborne. There is a weight and density altitude that will just not be able to gather enough ground speed to take off.

What can we do to mitigate density altitude. We can fly earlier in the morning or later in the afternoon. We can reduce weight as much as possible, by pumping the floats thoroughly before flight, leaving gear or fuel behind. We can fly directly into the wind to increase airspeed as much as possible. We can fly down river which will increase airspeed as well but it will also reduce water speed. Using good glassy water techniques can help, including raising one float on take off and getting the pitch just right to minimize drag. One final thing we can do if the water is calm, we can make some waves to reduce the drag on the floats. Glassy water is the worst. So leave yourself more room on these high and hot density altitude days and keep your cool.

New Ratings

I had a big ratings year last year. I plan to describe each new rating in detail, but I wanted to talk a little about new ratings in general. Ever since I was a boy scout I have liked learning new things and earning the merit badge. Each new badge required study and actions. Once all the requirements were met I would take an oral test and either passed and recieved my new badge or I would fail and have to try again at a later date. Each badge was a sign that I had at least a working knowledge of the subject or skill that the badge stood for. This was nearly instant gratification. Once the badge was earned, it was mine to wear proudly. The toughest badge that all pilots must earn is the private piltos licence. To get there we had to slay many dragons personal, practical, family related, medical, and financial. The courage that we had to garner to actually go to the airport and setup that first demo flight is non trivial. It is the first thing that separates pilots from those who have not tried it. Yes... There are those who try it and quit, and those who try it and never go up again, but at least they made the effort and got to the airport and flew. Once we have that private or sport pilot license, we truely have joined a new fraternity/sorority of special individuals. We have been measured and found good enough to fly by ourselves and even take passengers aloft. We can go out and rent a plane whenever we want. (after passing a checkout flight) Usually after that initial time when you are on cloud nine and you have flown all your friends that you can talk into it, and you have done the hundred dollar hamberger a few times. You may have even taken a couple of trips. There is a malaise that develops in some pilots. They stop going to the airport as often. Work and family excuses/pressures interfere with getting to the airport. What you need is to get out there and earn another badge or two. Master a new type of plane. Get some new skills. My demons were college and finances. I started flying when I was 16. I got my private licence shortly after my 17th birthday. I was a valet at a local country club to earn the money to fly. Once I had the licence I flew a good bit, for a while. Then it got further and further in between flights. I got through my first biannual flight review. I did some spin training. I did a few cross country flights. I got to my second biannual flight review and never actually finished it. I stayed away from the airport for 11 years. I graduated from college, got married (twice), and had a few jobs. I was always looking upward, and thinking that I need to get back up there. I took a buddy of mine who was curious about flying. I arranged a demo flight for him. He had a great time and purchased a Cessna "Learn to Fly" CD course. He still has yet to take up lessons, but I got the bug again. I started by getting a good BFR and got my complex aircraft sign off. I started working on my instrument rating as well. This got me steeped in aviation again. I even bought a part of a Cessna 206. I was hooked again. After the instrument raing, I tried to get a seaplane rating, but never finished the training because I really didn't hit it off with my instructor. I eventually got the seaplane rating after I bought a seaplane. I have added a rating or a skill every couple of years until last year. I guess I was pent up or something but I added private helicopter, ATP multi-engine, private, commercial, and CFIG glider ratings. I would get a new temporary certificate before my permanent one came in the mail. I had a great time. I may be running out of ratings to do pretty soon, but there are tons of new aviation things left to try. Every new rating or skill increases all of your flying awarenes, and it keeps flying fun and interesting.

Snakes on a Seaplane

I was flying the seaplane today on Yates lake just below Lake Martin Dam. I often go here when the main lake is more busy than I would prefer. There are only a few houses on the lake and very few boats. It is about 10 miles long and 1500 feet wide for most of its body. It is an awesome seaplane lake with often perfectly glassy water since it is down in a canyon of sorts. Today my student and I were idling around in the middle of the lake just appreciating mother nature's grandure when my student noticed something moving pretty fast in the water. It looked like a large snake swiming across the lake. We taxied over to investigate, and sure enough it was a snake about four feet long . It was apparently as interested in the seaplane as we were in it. As we taxied by, it climbed up onto the back of the right float. It did not look happy, but then again, what makes a snake look happy? It stared at me as I peered through my open window and kind of rared back like it wanted to strike. I was too far away and inside the plane, which was where I intended to stay. I was concerned that it might find a more secure perch on the plane or maybe even gain access to the cockpit, but this was unlikely. I was not about to get out. I am sure that the weight and balance was not good with a ten pound snake that far back on the float. We gunned the plane a bit and it decided to depart the float. Now I was mad at myself for not snapping a picture with my iPhone.

Rejuvenation - The Flight Home

In order to get the seaplane back to Lake Martin after its restoration at Bibb County Airport, it was necessary to execute a trailer take off. (video link to follow) We ran up the engine and back taxied the plane down the runway. It was very disconcerting to have so little control, as I was at the mercy of the driver of the truck. We wanted to use every bit of available runway. I had read everything I could on the subject of trailer take- offs and watched all the other videos that I could find. I had been though the sequence a million times in my head. At the end of the runway I did another run up and then we unstrapped the plane from the trailer. I was in constant contact with the driver of the truck over the radio. I gave the go ahead to start the roll. I added power to keep positive thrust as we accelerated and I kept down elevator to "pin" the plane to the trailer. I did not want the plane to tilt back or slide forward, and I wanted sufficient airspeed to climb over the truck.



Once we reached 50 kts I began to raise the pitch. According to the truck driver we hit 70 mph before liftoff. The plane came easily off the trailer and climbed and accelerated nicely. I lost contact with my ground crew by radio shortly after takeoff. My partner in the Twin Comanche, Allen, was going to follow me to the lake, but since we could not make radio contact he went back to Bessemer. The flight to Lake Martin was about 45 minutes.



About 15 minutes into the flight I started getting a random 200 rpm drop in engine speed. The drop kept coming and going. I was 10 minutes from Lay Lake so I continued the flight and kept my eyes out for suitable landing spots should things go badly. The drop turned more rhythmic as I got to Lay Lake. Once over the lake I climbed to 5,000 feet. I could see Lake Martin and I felt that I could make it. I had people on the water at Lake Martin. If I landed in Lay Lake on untested floats it could be ugly. So I made the journey home. The engine did not get any worse, but I was sure glad to see my home lake and my buddy waiting for me in the pontoon boat. I had not landed a seaplane in 4 months, which did not help my stress level. Neither did the fact that the float skins were new and untested. I set up and landed near my buddy and then taxied straight to the dock to do another leak check. Once at the dock, I called everyone to inform them that I was good. The rejuvenation project was finally at an end and I could sleep well. The issue with the rpm drop turned out to be a bad ignition lead. I bought a fresh new harness from Aircraft Spruce. If you would like to see the video follow the link-www.waterwings.com/video.html

























It was very sweet to finish this project and land back into Lake Martin. Thanks to Erol Kyzer and Allen Taylor for the videography and Kevin Williams for the metal work and paint job on the plane. The airplane design is by Anna Welden (my daughter).

Rejuvenation - Assembly

The paint is finally done and the floats are attached. The plane is starting to look like a plane again. Every piece that we add back on takes us one step closer to flying again. While the deconstruction was interesting and it was nice to be "Out with the old" putting stuff back together is way more inspiring. We had been pretty careful during the deconstruction to make sure that every piece is accounted for. Unless this is done religiously, the construction phase will be trouble. Many of these parts are hard to find and expensive. Some nuts are in the hundreds of dollars. We did a great job of being careful and we found pretty much everything that we needed to put the plane back into flying condition. One of the most difficult operations was putting the wings back on. This required 4 people. Two of us held the wing while the mechanic attached the bolts. There are only a few bolts but the tolerances are very tight where they go. There are only 4 bolts that hold a wing on. Two hold the strut and two hold the wing root to the plane. The first three bolts seem to go pretty easily. The last one always seems to be tough. It took a couple of hours to attach both wings. The prop and the spinner and all the control surfaces went on pretty easilly as well. After about 2 days we had a complete plane. All painted and ready to go, except for the leak test on the floats. We went ahead and fueled the plane and ran it. The plane is very "tippy" on the trailer. If you get too far back on the floats it will fall back onto the back part of the floats. We strapped the plane down to keep it stable. It felt very nice to spend some time in the completed cockpit and to actually hear the engine run. It started easily and ran perfectly. We kept it running for about 15 minutes. I was very happy for about 20 minutes. We then decided to do a leak test on the floats, by putting water in them with the hose. There were very many leaks. My hopes of flying were dashed for several days while thinks dried out and more sealant was applied.