Flying a seaplane but only on land?

DavidWhite

DavidWhite

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So say someone with a SEL cert wanted to fly a SES amphib but only off the land......could he legally do that? I cant find anything on the interwebz.
 
To the best of my knowledge the answer is yes, however I do not know what reg would support that.
 
I would imagine it would fall under the same category of a VFR only pilot being able to fly a IFR equipped plane.
 
Well except that the systems are slightly different (retracting wheel gear) and flight characteristics are different as well. Probably more like someone flying a RG airplane with the gear up because they don't have a complex endorsement. Or the guy flying a twin on one engine because he doesn't have a multi rating.
 
DavidWhite said:
So say someone with a SEL cert wanted to fly a SES amphib but only off the land......could he legally do that? I cant find anything on the interwebz.
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The reg refers to landing a plane on water. One with floats landed on a hard runway is no different than one with fixed gear.
 
Sac Arrow said:
Well except that the systems are slightly different (retracting wheel gear) and flight characteristics are different as well. Probably more like someone flying a RG airplane with the gear up because they don't have a complex endorsement. Or the guy flying a twin on one engine because he doesn't have a multi rating.
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I have noticed no noticeable differences in flight characteristics outside of speed, float planes and sea planes fly like planes.
 
There was an FAA letter saying it was ok. It was on a specific airplane, where the pilot wanted to fly his Grumman Widgeon only on land without a Multi engine Seaplane rating. But this, along with common sense, says all you need are the land ratings for that aircraft. So yes, a pilot with ratings for land only can fly an amphibian, only on land, legally, but can't land on water.
 
If you ask Flight Standards, they'll tell you that what matters is the surface, not the airplane. So, an ASEL can land an amphib on a runway, but not on a lake, but it's vice versa for an ASES -- OK on lake, not on land. Don't think anyone's ever asked the Chief Counsel, probably because the Flight Standards answer makes sense.
 
CTLSi said:
The reg refers to landing a plane on water. One with floats landed on a hard runway is no different than one with fixed gear.
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Depending on the floats, landing a floatplane on a hard surface can be VERY different than landing a fixed gear landplane- but the screeching sound will let you know ;).
 
Can one fly a twin around on one engine without a ME rating?? :D
 
Henning said:
I have noticed no noticeable differences in flight characteristics outside of speed, float planes and sea planes fly like planes.
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I don't know enough on the subject to comment intelligently.

Not to comment, just not intelligently.
 
Henning said:
I have noticed no noticeable differences in flight characteristics outside of speed, float planes and sea planes fly like planes.
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I know that when I got my seaplane rating we went up and did a couple of stalls and that was pretty much it for the in-flight training. The rest of it was all glassy water landings, taxiing and sailing on the water. The hardest thing was step turns - yoke full back, power onto the step, left rudder then bleed in right aileron as you go crosswind then neutral aileron and rudder as you go downwind, power off step and hope you nailed it because if you didn't the wind would blow you right back around to the direction you started from. If there is a lot of wind you taxi backwards.

Then there were all those nautical rules to learn like red-right-returning, converging right of ways and such. If you think there are jerk pilots, wait till you get out on the water :rolleyes:
 
One of those weird questions that once occurred to me is how pilots with both the land and sea ratings would log amphib time in the logbook if the surface type wasn't the same for both takeoff and landing.
 
Silvaire said:
I know that when I got my seaplane rating we went up and did a couple of stalls and that was pretty much it for the in-flight training. The rest of it was all glassy water landings, taxiing and sailing on the water. The hardest thing was step turns - yoke full back, power onto the step, left rudder then bleed in right aileron as you go crosswind then neutral aileron and rudder as you go downwind, power off step and hope you nailed it because if you didn't the wind would blow you right back around to the direction you started from. If there is a lot of wind you taxi backwards.

Then there were all those nautical rules to learn like red-right-returning, converging right of ways and such. If you think there are jerk pilots, wait till you get out on the water :rolleyes:
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I make my living on the water.:D
 
tlglenn said:
One of those weird questions that once occurred to me is how pilots with both the land and sea ratings would log amphib time in the logbook if the surface type wasn't the same for both takeoff and landing.
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However we please, nobody gives a flying **** what's in your log book, really.
 
tlglenn said:
One of those weird questions that once occurred to me is how pilots with both the land and sea ratings would log amphib time in the logbook if the surface type wasn't the same for both takeoff and landing.
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Since there is no requirement for sea/land-specific time in the FAA regulations, that would be a matter to discuss with whoever is asking about that time, and not an FAA issue.
 
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