Friday 9 March 2007

0900 Friday morning sees me parking my RAV4 hire car outside of Jack Brown's and being introduced to Tristram, my instructor, for this hours jolly in a Piper J3 seaplane. Formalities over we walk to our aircraft, N591K, which is bobbing away about 20 yards from reception. Tristram gives me an introduction to the aircraft and then invites me to climb in the back seat and get myself comfortable. As I climb in he is busy pumping out the floats for any water that may have leaked in since it was last flown.


Having stored the pump he is now releasing the retaining line and with a gentle push we drift out into Lake Jessie. A couple of primes, throttle set, ignition on and Tristram, left hand on the wing leading edge for balance, gives the prop a swing from behind. A few seconds later we are drifting across the lake and steering with the water rudders that have been lowered by lifting a cable onto a hook in the rear cockpit. Power checks complete we are now ready for take-off and point ourselves in the direction of the light northeasterly wind gently blowing across the lake.

Now for some extra seaplane checks - the CARS check. Carb heat - check, Area - clear, Rudder - up and S? Sorry - can't remember what S stands for - hope it isn't important. I'll ask next time.

Stick right back, full throttle, keep it straight with your feet, the floats climb onto the first water step then, shortly after, the second step. Check slightly forward with the stick, balance the aircraft on the step, keep straight, accelerate, gentle back pressure on the stick (you can tell when it is ready to get airborne), ease off the water, accelerate in ground effect (or should that be water effect?), establish the climb at 60mph and we are on our way.









































We head out eastwards for a few miles looking for our next lake to land on and over the next hour we don't go above 500'.

We have chosen our lake, decided the direction of the wind across the lake and set ourselves up on a sort of downwind leg at 500' and 2300rpm.

Shortly before we turn base leg we reduce power to 2000rpm and commence a gentle descent. After completing our turn onto base we do a further power reduction to 1700rpm. Once we are established on finals, about 50 yards before the edge of the lake, we close the throttle and the speed starts to bleed back from 70mph towards 60mph.

With power off there is a pronounced nose-down attitude and we must maintain this attitude until the floats are a few feet above the water surface. Keep it straight and at about 10 feet we make a pronounced pitch change to set ourselves up in the landing attitude and hold it. Hold this attitude and as the speed bleeds off continue with an ever-so-gentle backwards application of the stick until we have the stick fully back. Hopefully this point is co-incidental with a touchdown on the surface and we maintain the backforce on the stick until the aircraft settles on the water.

We have landed!

Water rudders lowered and we steer round towards the edge of the lake preparing ourselves for the take-off. I notice a couple of fishermen sitting in a flat-bottomed boat on the north side of the lake. They look bemused as they contemplate how peaceful it was there until we turned up.

A couple of circuits later and we leave the place to the fishermen and move on to the next lake.

As we shuttle across to the next lake (this area is called Lakeland for a reason) I can't help but notice a couple of floatplanes bobbing up and down outside their owners lakeside properties. Thoughts of moving here cross my mind and I start trying to work out how many years I have got till retirement!

The hour passes too quickly and we have done about ten water landings in that time. We are back at base and I pop into the office to pay Michelle behind the desk.

$155 for one hour dual - just over £80. Michelle apologises for the price going up due to increasing fuel charges!



I have only done about fourteen hours flying this week but it seems a lot more.

Some things to think about

• I chose to rent the Cessna 172SP and 182T at Air Orlando. They do have a diversity of types to rent or train on including Cirrus SR20 & SR22, Diamond DA20 and DA40, Cherokee Arrow and Citabria taildragger. Three of their Cessnas and the DA40 are G1000 equipped.

• Air Orlando has reasonable insurance coverage compared to other flight schools but it is still nowhere near as good as we are used to here in the UK. I paid $116 to AOPA(US) to provide me with a years coverage. This improves my coverage in respect of my third-party and passenger liability. I have provided a link to the AOPA(US) website.

• Orlando-Executive is a relatively large airport in busy airspace but is very easy to get in and out of. Delays for departure are minimal and I have never had to wait more than a couple of minutes once ready.

• There are very few charges apart from renting the aircraft. There are no landing fees, no handling fees and no membership charges. The only charge that may be made is if you go somewhere and stay overnight. The FBO (Fixed Base Operator) will probably charge a fee for parking and using his facilities. This would normally be about $10-$20/night.

• Florida State Tax (7%) will be added to your rental bill.

I pass through US airport security in less than 2 minutes (much better than the UK) and Virgin 16 is on time and takes me back to Gatwick and reality.