GumpAir wrote:And lets not even go to the amount of stuffs gone kersplash from hands to water....

Wrenches, keys, wallets, cylinder assemblies, spark plugs.... Then comes the "do I dive or do I say f**k it" talk one has with one's self.

Gump

Yes, and come to think of it...I left a set of RayBans in a lake in every province and one in Willoughby lake Vermont.
Just about lost an old girlfriend too, Chantal...but she was big enough to float...without a life jacket.

at the start of this season, my Sony phone went in the river, my wife thinks I did it on purpose...I didn't really like the phone.

The worst sound in the world to a working seaplane pilot is: Klunk...Splash. That's usually followed quickly by a rather loud "Shit!".

When I was working in Kodiak, I'd gotten a new shoulder holster for my government issued handgun, and not having used shoulder holsters before, didn't realize I needed to adjust the friction screw to hold the
pistol securely.

Late one Saturday afternoon, I landed at Lilly Lake, the municipal seaplane base in Kodiak, and it was a little windy. Getting the Cub into it's slip, I quickly jumped out of the plane, bent over to grab a line to dock the plane, and.....Klunk, Splash......Shit! My government issued gun just went for a swim in water that's about five feet deep.

Several years before, one of my bosses lost a government handgun he'd left in his truck overnight. Someone had broken into the truck and stole the gun. I witnessed the process he went through after this loss was reported, which convinced me that I was NEVER going to lose a government gun.

So, I went home and Sunday morning I returned to the lake with my snorkeling gear. After rooting around in the slime and muck on the bottom of the lake, I actually found the thing..... I took it home and cleaned and oiled it thoroughly, and drank a few celebratory beers.

The next day, Monday, the Kodiak Daily Fish Wrapper and Litter Box Liner (yes, that was the actual name of the daily newspaper) had a front page article, complete with large font headline reading "City Engineer Reveals That Lilly Lake Condos Have Been Dumping Sewage Into Lilly Lake for as Much as Four Months". Turns out the condos had a broken sewage line.....and....

My float slip was located right across the (narrow) pond from the condos. I took about seven showers that day, then went to the doc and got a new tetanus shot.......and drank a few more beers.

I think the beers prevented infection.

I've given a lot of swimming lessons to stuff I used to own.....

MTV

mtv wrote:The worst sound in the world to a working seaplane pilot is: Klunk...Splash. That's usually followed quickly by a rather loud "Shit!".

When I was working in Kodiak, I'd gotten a new shoulder holster for my government issued handgun, and not having used shoulder holsters before, didn't realize I needed to adjust the friction screw to hold the
pistol securely.

Late one Saturday afternoon, I landed at Lilly Lake, the municipal seaplane base in Kodiak, and it was a little windy. Getting the Cub into it's slip, I quickly jumped out of the plane, bent over to grab a line to dock the plane, and.....Klunk, Splash......Shit! My government issued gun just went for a swim in water that's about five feet deep.

Several years before, one of my bosses lost a government handgun he'd left in his truck overnight. Someone had broken into the truck and stole the gun. I witnessed the process he went through after this loss was reported, which convinced me that I was NEVER going to lose a government gun.

So, I went home and Sunday morning I returned to the lake with my snorkeling gear. After rooting around in the slime and muck on the bottom of the lake, I actually found the thing..... I took it home and cleaned and oiled it thoroughly, and drank a few celebratory beers.

The next day, Monday, the Kodiak Daily Fish Wrapper and Litter Box Liner (yes, that was the actual name of the daily newspaper) had a front page article, complete with large font headline reading "City Engineer Reveals That Lilly Lake Condos Have Been Dumping Sewage Into Lilly Lake for as Much as Four Months". Turns out the condos had a broken sewage line.....and....

My float slip was located right across the (narrow) pond from the condos. I took about seven showers that day, then went to the doc and got a new tetanus shot.......and drank a few more beers.

I think the beers prevented infection.

I've given a lot of swimming lessons to stuff I used to own.....

MTV

Very funny!!

So...packing in a Kydex belt holster now ??

Yup, very funny indeed. This season I've had two ker-splash moments. One was my gps and something else I couldn't determine what. I recovered the gps, but it failed to boot up after that. The second moment was a time I was just coasting up to the dock, I hopped out onto the float strut, and then took a jump down to the float intending to just rebound back up to the dock when next thing I know I'm in the water up to my chest with the dock on one side and the plane on the other. Not sure how I missed, but I did

What do I have to do to get a laugh out of you guys???
OK, I'll try again...


About:
A hot Beaver on a cold day...
Or:
A Beaver over prime...?

Headoutdaplane wrote:The biggest learning curve with the beaver for me was figuring out How to Make: where the wind wanted the plane to go, where the current wanted the plane to go, and where I wanted the plane to go, all coincide at the same spot.

Exactly. The fellow who checked me out in the Beaver told me that, in his opinion, every float plane pilot should learn to fly floats in a Single Otter. That way, they'd already know how to finesse a seaplane, and wouldn't have to feel like they could muscle it around.

And, as you've found out, once you get the hang of it, you can make it look easy, using finesse and timing.

MTV

Ha Ha!

That's exactly what Dave Wiley told me about the T-Cart on Edo 1320's.

Gump

I can add a bit of detail to that CLASSIC Mother Lode Beaver crash scene.

I was in BC a couple of years ago for water egress training from "Bry the Dunk Guy" (Bryan Webster). He filled in some details.

Apparently the movie director went to the local commercial seaplane operators, who routinely operated off that lake. They always landed and took off the looong way on that lake. The Hollywood director, though, had another idea. He wanted them to land crossways, so he'd have that dramatic footage of them descending with all that magnificent rising terrain behind them. One commercial operator told him to f-off, so he went to another and they also told him that it was impossible due to the steeply rising terrain making the approach impossible.

Being a Hollywood director and not being used to being told "NO, in fact, HELL NO", he brought up the aforementioned Hollywood stunt pilot. He then proceeded to wave a lot of cash and signed lots of releases, and eventually got one of the operators to lease the plane out without their driver. The rest is best explained by watching the video!

For non-seaplane operators, in a seaplane, you can go from behaving like a tricycle gear to a heavily braked tailwheel in a moment by landing on the front half of the floats! The center of buoyancy shifts quickly depending on attitude. The guy never had a chance. Too steep an approach, so he forced it onto the water flat to nose-forward, and the ship immediately responded!

Great footage. So-so movie.

Pierre

It has always confused me why in every flying, sailing or climbing movie Hollywood directors seem to prefer to show how they think it should be done and feel free to ignore the people with real world experience that they hire.

It's the same arrogance that has created the stereotypical driver of certain Beechcraft products, and other high dollar aircraft.

"I think I am powerful, I am surrounded by people who tell me I am powerful, I have learned there are never any negative consequences to my actions. Therefore I can do whatever I want regardless of what lesser people tell me may happen, because I am smarter, stronger, and better than they are."

Mother Nature ain't impressed with clowns like that. She always wins.

Gump

According to that plastic card in my wallet with O's and W's pix on it, I am a seaplane pilot. Howmsomever, one of my instructors last July assured me that until I fell into the water off of a float, I didn't qualify as a real seaplane pilot. I am therefore humble enough to say I'm not a real seaplane pilot, yet. One of these days.

On the losing things into the water issue, I did do that--the battery box to my Flitelite mic light. Not exactly a high buck loss, so that doesn't qualify me for anything but klutzy.

Cary

I really love all your Beaver stories. That is, the non x-rated version! For me the Beaver is the ultimate. A polished 185 is almost as good. I'm trying to decide whether to save more money (over a longer time) for a Beaver or to be able to buy a 185 sooner. In one way I'm not really in a hurry as I have a sweet deal as a part-owner of a 206 on floats in Sweden, and I have access to a Stearman. But I really long for my own baby again...

Cary wrote:According to that plastic card in my wallet with O's and W's pix on it, I am a seaplane pilot. Howmsomever, one of my instructors last July assured me that until I fell into the water off of a float, I didn't qualify as a real seaplane pilot. I am therefore humble enough to say I'm not a real seaplane pilot, yet. One of these days.

On the losing things into the water issue, I did do that--the battery box to my Flitelite mic light. Not exactly a high buck loss, so that doesn't qualify me for anything but klutzy.

Cary

In that case, I don't think I want to be a REAL seaplane pilot ! I got my SES last June and had a great time doing it. Now I just need a set of 2000's --- and a lake!