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President's Perspective

Adding A Rating

AOPA Information Can Help
Flying, for all of us, continues to be a learning experience. Many private pilots look forward to achieving instrument ratings, flight instructors work toward becoming airline transport pilots, and renters are anxious to check out in higher performance aircraft.

For many years I have wanted to add a seaplane rating to my certificate-mainly for the challenge and to experience water operations. Like so many things, I put off scheduling this dream until late last year when a friend and I agreed to go to a weekend school and try out the strange environment of taking off and landing on water. There are a variety of places throughout the United States that offer courses like this, but we chose Jack Brown's Seaplane Base in Winter Haven, Florida. Since 1962, Brown's has trained more than 14,000 seaplane pilots from all over the world.

So many AOPA members don't take advantage of the association's wealth of information on any given subject. I must admit that often I don't remember how much material we have. So I contacted our Aviation Services department (800/ USA-AOPA) and told the technical specialist of my pending floatplane lessons. A comprehensive packet of material came from AOPA. In the first document-the practical test standards-I learned the details of all the tasks that would be required for the rating. The package also contained several reprints of Pilot magazine articles written by others who had attended the same two-day course. It was helpful to read their observations in advance of my training, since many of the problems they encountered are universal.

The Seaplane Pilots Association (SPA) is housed within our AOPA headquarters building. It is a separate organization, but it takes advantage of AOPA's infrastructure for more efficient operation. My package included its list of experienced seaplane flight instructors around the country and a copy of its excellent magazine, Water Flying. I soon got a real appreciation for the value of general aviation's ability to use many of our lakes and waterways as airports.

With the knowledge gained from the AOPA/SPA information packet, my friend and I found ourselves at the Winter Haven Airport on a Friday evening last March, ready to start training the next morning. Lessons would start at 7 a.m. to take advantage of the morning calm. I should mention that the weather was not at all cooperative that first day, with strong winds and several heavy rain squalls.

Bright and early on Saturday, I met my instructor, John Rennie, whose enthusiasm for flying floats was only exceeded by his calm and patient manner. In real life he is a corporate pilot flying business jets, but it was obvious that seaplane flying is his love.

Ground school is integrated into the five hours of flight time, and we had two days to accomplish everything. To add to the challenge, my training and checkride would be in a Piper J-3 Cub on floats. With very little stick time, let alone Cub time, I was apprehensive as we began. Thank goodness this Cub had a "whopping" 90-horsepower engine that worked hard to carry the weight of the floats and two adults off the water.

We never flew higher than 900 feet above the water, and that was for stalls, steep turns, and slow flight. Ninety percent of the flying was at 500 feet, which made the experience even more fun.

Central Florida is famous as the "Land of 1,000 Lakes"-perfect for "splash and goes" and water taxiing. Even with no sailing experience, operating on the water brought an instant recognition of the importance of wind direction and use of power and air and water rudders. To minimize the noise for those who live near the water, my CFI was careful to make sure we never stayed at one lake too long. Friendly flying was the rule.

The first day's lunch break consisted of landing on a lake, docking, and walking a dozen yards to a local restaurant. Then the rain hit. The AOPA material never described the experience of flying with the window and door wide open and rain pouring onto the student.

By the second day I was more comfortable, and my checkride went flawlessly. Jon Brown, son of the late Jack Brown who founded the business, was my examiner. He filled out a temporary certificate that read "Airplane Single-Engine Land and Sea."

Floatplane purists look down on weekend courses, and for the right reasons. They really just introduce pilots to the basics. I wouldn't take out a seaplane by myself without much more training. Still, I found the experience fantastic, and it brought me back to the basics of flying, placing great emphasis on wind direction in the air and on the water.

The next time you undertake a new challenge of any kind, be sure to use the free information services from AOPA, as I did, to prepare you for the experience.

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