Check out this video of a Piper Pacer on floats doing some work in and out of a small lake in BC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpbeB073SAw&sns=em

Obviously that's a huge lake and they are doing small lake practice....

How effective is the circling takeoff on small lakes? Can you do that with a load?

PAMR MX wrote:Obviously that's a huge lake and they are doing small lake practice....

How effective is the circling takeoff on small lakes? Can you do that with a load?

If you can't do it with the load you have, you need to split the load! We have a few places we go that we have to do this in confined areas - climb the contour lines to get out of the bowl and over the ridges.

Yes, turning takeoffs are pretty common in confined area ops in seaplanes. Often, departing with a load is the only time you need to do a turning takeoff.

It was interesting in that video that the only landing they show he was circling to a landing, and at touchdown, he was drifting sideways. I'm betting someone got a good neck snap out of that touchdown. Not recommended. And, in a Pacer, of all airplanes, a circling arrival will take more lake than just landing straight ahead.... Those things sink like a stone, especially on floats.

Turning takeoffs work pretty well until there's a bit of wind......then things can get sketchy, depending on the velocity and direction of the wind. Turning on the water into a wind can be a career limiting program with sufficient breeze.

But, one of the nice things about float flying is that often you can use the "runway" twice.....once in one direction, then again on the way back for takeoff. Especially when heavy.

MTV