I know there are a couple of pilots on here, and I was just wondering if anyone has a sea rating. Just wondering cause' I am thinking about getting both single and multi sea ratings later on this year. Where did you go, how long was it, and how different is it flying on floats?

10/19/2007 8:47:08 PM

oh man. i wish i could afford to fly again

if anyone takes a day trip on the weekend sometime, and wants a right seater, let me know.

i got my license 6 years ago, but haven't flown in 4 years
which reminds me, i need to get a new license since my wallet was stolen

[Edited on October 19, 2007 at 8:49 PM. Reason : sorry to use your thread, but it seemed like a good opportunity ]

10/19/2007 8:48:47 PM

snakes on a plane is on hbo

10/19/2007 9:13:22 PM

they should really make all planes sea planes...that way in the case of a loss of power (assuming you're flying over an ocean) then you could just land on the sea and wait

10/19/2007 9:13:41 PM

right, because it's easy to do a dead stick landing in a raging ocean with a 747 on pontoons...

10/19/2007 9:17:45 PM

paging CarZin!

10/19/2007 9:18:45 PM

^^ i admit, i lol'd

10/19/2007 9:19:30 PM

sure it is...I really don't see the difficulty and they've obviously thought about it because they make flotation devices, durrrrrr

10/19/2007 9:20:46 PM

^Abort!

10/19/2007 9:22:19 PM

personal flotation devices

10/19/2007 9:22:42 PM

just like they should make the whole plane out the material the black box is because thats indestructible, right?

10/19/2007 9:24:08 PM

^true, I mean how much easier would it be to find an entire plane than a little black box? amiright?

10/19/2007 10:15:33 PM

I remember, years ago, seeing a PBY Catalina that had been essentially converted into a flying houseboat with a range, microwave, mini-toilet, and love seats underneath the observation bubbles. Pretty sweet if you ask me.

10/19/2007 10:24:53 PM

^ Wow .. that's an attractive idea to me for some reason.

10/19/2007 10:33:42 PM

All planes are made for water landings (err ditching), but if hitting the water at 160 knots gear up doesn't kill you, the sharks will

10/19/2007 11:23:09 PM

^last time i checked it didn't matter if you CRASHED on water, pavement, or trees - at that speed it's like hitting a brick wall with a tanker full of jetfuel - near 0% survival I would gander.

That converted Catalina sounds AWESOME.

10/20/2007 12:46:18 AM

Ask TWW if someone knows why your car is making strange noises and MAYBE one person from the garage will drop in and invite you to the mall to "totally get your ass kicked by my posse U punk"

Ask TWW about seaplanes, quantum physics or space critters and the whole fucking grid lights up

10/20/2007 12:54:24 AM

man i wish i knew what you meant by that

10/20/2007 12:55:55 AM

oh hai, I'm from the garage. You has a bent valve.

10/20/2007 12:56:00 AM

U driv3 a american car (A CRAP-CAR HAHA) that is a rednex thing to do japan is the best car in europ

10/20/2007 1:00:41 AM

Quote :

"last time i checked it didn't matter if you CRASHED on water, pavement, or trees - at that speed it's like hitting a brick wall with a tanker full of jetfuel - near 0% survival I would gander."

you can land almost anything in water.

crashing into the drink and ditching are two different things.

10/20/2007 1:02:49 AM

I had read somewhere that there had been 0 successful wide-body ditchings in the history of commercial aviation. Those turbo fans act as giant water scoops and the frame just isn't built to take that kind of stress.

Quote :

"Wow .. that's an attractive idea to me for some reason."

It was nice, not an el-cheapo job. If I had the money it took to keep a 60 year old aircraft in the air I'd do it.

10/20/2007 6:46:40 AM

sorry to put down your hopes, but a damn 747 cannot land in water. no commercial airliner can ditch into water and have people survive. its also rare for GA aircraft to land in water and have people survive (according to my flight school instructor, correct me if he's wrong). planes are not designed to handle those stresses.

and i know, there's always a chance it could happen, but with odds worse than 1E6, I'll just say it's impossible

10/20/2007 9:05:46 AM

Small, low-wing aircraft have a decent chance of ditching and the pilot getting out . . . it happened moderately regularly in WWII, but the forces on a smaller aircraft are considerably different than those on a larger one, and the ability to exit out of the top of the aircraft (like in a WWII fighter) probably made a considerable difference (as opposed to the sides in a modern GA aircraft).



[Edited on October 20, 2007 at 9:31 AM. Reason : video]

10/20/2007 9:28:46 AM

kenmore air in washington state

10/20/2007 10:40:33 AM

My uncle is converting his Murphy Rebel into a sea plane... perty sick.

What is the best flight school in this area?

10/20/2007 10:51:43 AM

wwwebsurfer, I ditched a King Air when I was 24 over Alabama, and no one was killed as a direct result of the landing; granted I broke both of my legs, dislocated my right shoulder, suffered a few internal injuries and was knocked unconsciousness for three days, I, my crew and passengers survived.

So has anyone heard of flight schools for a sea rating?

10/20/2007 8:54:16 PM

10/20/2007 9:04:05 PM

I used to do landing at Winterhaven, FL which is an untowered airport next to a lake where guys got sea plane ratings. For some reason they weren't required to have transponders, used a different radio frequency, and operated very close to our pattern. The guys I flew with all planned on getting their ratings there at some point as it was fairly cheap and sounded like a quick rating to get.

I'll probably shoot for mine after I get my commercial stuff taken care of. A good friend of mine flies C-17s out of Seattle and is hoping to get his as well so I may do some west coast flying.

Just don't be this guy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1ycBBGz3Hw

^^ BTW, whats the story?

[Edited on October 20, 2007 at 9:41 PM. Reason : .]

10/20/2007 9:39:59 PM