Seaplane

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Advanced Pilot

| January 1, 2025

Get your feet wet

Flying a seaplane is a dream for many pilots.

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Pilot Magazine

| September 1, 2024

Ugly duckling becomes a swan

The NXCub’s V-shape keels part the lightly rippled water as the airplane touches down on Great Sacandaga Lake.

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Article

| August 29, 2024

Seaplane pilots combine paddle, pump

Seaplane pilots need a pump to remove bilge water from the floats and a paddle to maneuver near docks and obstacles. Two Maine seaplane pilots have combined the functions of those essential accessories in the Paddle Pump.

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Article

| July 25, 2024

Jekta, ZeroAvia work together on hydrogen-fueled seaplane

Jekta, the company developing an electric-powered amphibious aircraft called the PHA-ZE 100, agreed to use a fuel cell power system from ZeroAvia to demonstrate the concept of a possible fuel-cell version of the flying boat design. The companies announced the agreement during the Farnborough Air Show.

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Article

| June 20, 2024

Court approves Icon Aircraft sale

A last-minute flurry of bids from a German sewing machine maker and Linden Blue, co-owner and vice chairman of General Atomics—the makers of Predator drones—culminated June 18 with a bankruptcy judge signing off on the sale of Icon Aircraft for a fraction of what it might once have been worth.

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Article

| November 16, 2023

FAA updates seaplane operation safety information

In an effort to improve pilot and passenger safety during seaplane operations under FAR Part 91, the FAA issued an advisory circular (AC) that revises guidance on a range of operational and safety considerations.

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Pilot Magazine

| October 1, 2022

Rugged and remarkable

Torrents of saltwater spray from the metal floats as the DHC–3 Turbine Otter begins its takeoff run in bustling Ketchikan, Alaska, on the canal packed with gargantuan cruise ship, yachts, fishing boats, and U.S. Coast Guard cutters.

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Pilot Magazine

| April 1, 2022

A piece of Beatles history (sort of)

By Kevin R. Currie

Every time someone walks by the open hangar door, I get similar comments. “Nice plane. What kind of homebuilt is it?” And, every time my response is the same, “Thanks. But it’s not homebuilt. It’s a Thurston Teal.”

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Pilot Magazine

| February 1, 2022

Crowning achievement

The former boxer found his future in 1978.

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Pilot Magazine

| January 1, 2022

Maine floats

In Maine, where floatplanes are part of local lore, lakes and coastline are boundless, and skilled workers are ready, it stands to reason that float manufacturers would set up shop here.

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Article

| October 12, 2021

Seaplane pioneer mourned

A pilot and business leader who helped put general aviation on floats and wrote a definitive guide to seaplane flying, Julian Jordan Frey Jr. died October 6 at age 89.

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Slideshow

| August 26, 2021

Samaritan Aviation's Mark Palm counts blessings after bout with cancer

Samaritan Aviation founder Mark Palm splashed down parallel to the shore of Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin, in the Papua New Guinea-based medical ministry’s Cessna 206 Stationair seaplane before looking over and smiling from the left seat.

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Article

| August 5, 2021

Seaplane tugboat volunteer: 'It's just fun'

“Well, we got the first log tow of the year,” EAA AirVenture Seaplane Base tugboat volunteer Tom Scott said, slowing a small john boat to lasso a log in a cove at Wisconsin’s picturesque Lake Winnebago, just one of his many duties assisting seaplane pilots during the airshow July 26 to August 1.

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Article

| July 6, 2021

A new twist on an old dream

A wall-mounted air-conditioner hums in the background, spewing ice-cold air into the modest office space. Dark wood-paneled walls stand in stark contrast to the brilliant sunshine just outside. Florida’s Lake Jessie lies no more than four feet below Ben Shipps’ seat, its languid waters lapping softly against the dock pilings that support his domain.

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Pilot Magazine

| May 1, 2021

Piaggio Royal Gull: ‘Way ahead of its time’

The Piaggio Gull imprinted itself on John Mohr’s mind when he was a young boy.

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Article

| April 13, 2021

Seamax upgrades M–22 amphib LSA

Light sport airplane manufacturer Seamax Aircraft announced upgrades to its high-wing, Rotax engine-powered amphibious M–22 including a redesigned, lighter carbon fiber wing and leak-resistant single-piece aluminum fuel tanks.

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Pilot Magazine

| April 1, 2021

Technique: Take a pass

The best CEOs and entrepreneurs don’t come up with all the ideas themselves. Instead, they gather information from a variety of sources and adapt what is relevant and useful. Pilots should do the same.

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Pilot Magazine

| February 1, 2021

Lady of the lake

Hangar doors opened to a 1954 Beech 18 on floats, resplendent in white with nautical blue trim. The grande dame sheltered at Sky Harbor (DYT), a humming GA airport and seaplane base in Duluth, Minnestota, rooted on a spit of land between Lake Superior and Superior Bay.

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Advocacy

| October 15, 2020

Colorado group presses public benefit of seaplanes

A Colorado aviation event showcasing seaplanes—closely followed by their proving their worth in a real-world fight against a wildfire—has raised the profile of an effort by aviation advocates to extinguish a longtime ban on seaplane operations from the state’s waterways.

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Article

| September 17, 2020

PK Floats announces amphibious float for experimental aircraft

PK Floats has produced a new amphibious float for experimental aircraft that will become available in October.

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Advocacy

| September 17, 2020

Colorado pilots upbeat about new seaplane base

Colorado seaplane pilots are hopeful that the opening of a privately owned base for float-equipped aircraft on Kenney Reservoir will help get their initiative to restore seaplane access to state- and federally owned waterways up on the step.

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Article

| September 10, 2020

PA–12 accident prompts rudder failure inquiry

The FAA is reaching out to owners of several models of older Piper single-engine airplanes as it analyzes possible causes of a recent accident involving in-flight rudder failure above the upper hinge on a Piper PA–12 on floats.

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Article

| August 6, 2020

'Waco Taco' in the works

Waco Aircraft Corp. is about to deliver the third YMF–5F customer aircraft, and more are in progress at the factory in Battle Creek, Michigan. Construction of a much larger facility that will include Waco Kitchen, a company-run restaurant, is also progressing quickly.

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Advanced Training

| June 5, 2020

ICON created content ICON Flight Training Network Update

ICON Flight Training has been called the adventure of a lifetime, but until recently, visiting one of the company’s two ICON Flight Centers (Tampa, FL or Vacaville, CA) was the only way to train in the amphibious Light Sport ICON A5. Over the course of the past twelve months, that model has evolved.

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Pilot Magazine

| April 1, 2020

Close yet exotic

He had flown supersonic fighters most of his adult life in the French air force and, after 20 years, his career as a military officer was coming to an end.

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Article

| March 25, 2020

Pilot's idea helps hospitals fight coronavirus

After learning that hospitals were critically low on personal protection from the coronavirus, Michigan Seaplane flight school owner Cran Jones came up with a plan to prototype, manufacture, and deliver clear face shields to front-line medical professionals.

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Advocacy

| March 4, 2020

Accident puts Cessna 206 cargo doors back in focus

The FAA is revisiting the question of whether occupants of Cessna 206-, U206-, and TU206-series airplanes can safely exit the aircraft through the cargo doors during an emergency.

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Article

| February 6, 2020

Lake Amphibian type certificate for sale

If you are an airplane maker or enthusiast with deep pockets and a desire to bring an FAA-certified, boat-hulled amphibian back into production, Brian Foley would like to chat.

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Pilot Magazine

| February 1, 2020

Wings on the water

Pilots love to argue. There’s one topic that unites almost all of us, though: seaplane flying. It’s considered one of the most fun forms of flying, and when you realize how much fun flying is in general, that’s saying something.

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Article

| January 22, 2020

Pilots and posterity

The allure of backcountry flying in Maine has long been irresistible to certain pilots, some of whom go on to become its storytellers, writing of the lifestyle in works of fiction and nonfiction.

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