Floatplanes are wonderful machines, combining the freedom of flight with the serenity of water. The only problem is that most airplanes aren’t at home on the water, and maneuvering floatplanes on the surface can be cumbersome.
Water rudders make this possible. Stuck on the back of the floats are small slabs of material—usually aluminum—connected to a series of cables running either to the cockpit or the airplane’s rudder. The pilot controls the rudders just like the nosewheel of a landplane. Left rudder makes the water rudders deflect to the left and the airplane turns left, and vice versa. Like an airplane with a castering nosewheel, there’s a delay between the input and the turn, but the rudders can be surprisingly effective.
The water rudders are connected to a series of cables running to a cockpit control, which enables them to be raised and lowered. Typically the pilot will leave them down for taxi, and then raise them just prior to the start of the takeoff run. Leaving them down risks damaging the relatively fragile system, and the airplane’s conventional rudder works well enough that the water rudders aren’t needed on takeoff.
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