180Marty wrote:This isn't my plane but I got to fly it some when I befriended a guy that flys out to the oil rigs south of New Orleans. This picture was taken about a mile north of where the main channel of the Mississippi river ends.

I worked on a lot of those wells out in the marches and bayous in South Louisiana and that plane looks familiar. Was this guy a bit salesman or something like that? Probably not the same plane. I have a photo somewhere of the plane that landed and tied up to the rig I worked on as a mud engineer out of Golden Meadow, LA.

Went up to Multnomah Channel, ZZZ's backyard, to fly with a local float guy, while Lora Lee soaked up the sun reading at the dock, Hits lots of island channels on the Columbia NW of Portland, OR. Then came back to have lunch on the water at Mark's.





Previous weekend at Lake Billy Chinook, the girls were swarming the plane

I worked on a lot of those wells out in the marches and bayous in South Louisiana and that plane looks familiar. Was this guy a bit salesman or something like that? Probably not the same plane. I have a photo somewhere of the plane that landed and tied up to the rig I worked on as a mud engineer out of Golden Meadow, LA.

He was a salesman for chemicals to separate water from the crude. We were here since there was a problem and they were going to try something different. Got to see quite a few different rigs and ate some great food. We landed at Golden Meadow and tied up to somebody's boat and walked across the steet to a really good restaurant. How cool is that. I remember Steve saying, " they have really good hamburger steak here" and I'm thinking no way, I'm eating Cajun. Went fishing some too. More fun than a normal vacation seeing all those rigs, people, and getting to fly the plane.

While I was in bed coughing my lungs inside out with the latest village crud on the best flying day of this summer my co-pilot was snapping pictures:

Feeling for you Rocket! Your copilot made it worse with such a beautiful photo!

rocket wrote:While I was in bed coughing my lungs inside out with the latest village crud on the best flying day of this summer my co-pilot was snapping pictures:

Wow, awesome picture!!

Time for me to stop lurking and start posting!

Just finished my float rating on an airplane I bought at the end if last summer. Needed a bit of work so it's been a long process. A Bushcaddy R80 with 100hp Rotax. This summer I moved to a house on a river. Previous owner had a Maule on floats some years prior, so the docks were already set up. It may have a small backyard, but a plane connects it to the rest of the world!

After a storm rolled through, the sky turned bright red so I took a few pictures.



The view from my bedroom window. I'm one lucky guy!

It's been a crazy busy summer, I went and got my dream job. With my low float time I didn't expect to get a phone call back when I brought my resume, but everything lined up just right and a few weeks later I was checked out and thrown to the wolves. It's been a blast and quite the learning experience. The Beaver continues to amaze me with its performance even with big loads, though the only fast thing about it is the fuel gauges...

born2flyak wrote:It's been a crazy busy summer, I went and got my dream job. With my low float time I didn't expect to get a phone call back when I brought my resume, but everything lined up just right and a few weeks later I was checked out and thrown to the wolves. It's been a blast and quite the learning experience. The Beaver continues to amaze me with its performance even with big loads, though the only fast thing about it is the fuel gauges...

Congratulations! I've always admired Regal's airplanes at Lake Hood - they seem to have a nice fleet.

born2flyak wrote:It's been a crazy busy summer, I went and got my dream job. With my low float time I didn't expect to get a phone call back when I brought my resume, but everything lined up just right and a few weeks later I was checked out and thrown to the wolves. It's been a blast and quite the learning experience. The Beaver continues to amaze me with its performance even with big loads, though the only fast thing about it is the fuel gauges...

Amazing photographs! I really like the glassy water reflection!

Born2flyak, beautiful pictures! Sounds like you had an amazing summer!

https://www.backcountrypilot.org/images ... 6dbd77.jpg

More like the summer of 1971 but I'm on floats...

Beamer pilot wrote:

More like the summer of 1971 but I'm on floats...

I take it your Pontiac Trans Am is just out of the frame?

born2flyak,

Congratulations on a great season. Those photos are spectacular. Yours has been a fun story to follow since you announced that you were accepted to this job. Again, congratulations and thanks for sharing.

Thanks guys, I've had a blast, definitely a great company and bunch of people to work with. Also some of the nicest airplanes I've ever flown. Quite a lot of my previous flying experience was in a Cherokee 6 and 207 with more TTAF than either of their Beavers, as hard to believe as that might be.

Learning the finer points and tricks of the trade of float flying on the job can be pretty humbling, sometimes aggravating and embarrassing, but ultimately very rewarding.

I dropped a few phones in various lakes, went for an impromptu swim at Skwentna Canyon with hip waders on, got hung up on sandbars everywhere, and got the Beaver stuck in the mud pretty bad out in the duck flats after an aborted takeoff. I also tripled my float time and felt the light bulb turn on when I learned something new on my own, got that sweet spot dialed in, and got the routine down at Lake Hood. Can't wait for next summer!

Nice fall day

Good pics there from all of the above!

I hit my 100 hour goal for float flying this summer, so this will probably be my last weekend in the water. Time to start concentrating on the commercial rating. This is a crappy phone picture, it doesn't do it justice.

Gorgeous photo, Levi. Congratulations on a productive summer.

Zane Zane Zane... Alas, but you post the later abomination the Trans Am became under Burt Reynolds guiding hand. The 71 Trans Am was a much better looking and WAY stronger car (455 HO motor).