Seaplane Rating Someday

Some day, I would love to get a seaplane rating. I love the outdoors, and it seems like another chance to meld the outdoors with my love of flying. I have long dreamed of different things with float planes.

One dream is to fly over to some secluded spot. Camp overnight and go fishing and whatever else near a beautiful lake. Maybe even fishing from the float plane itself. Being able to pick my own spot to land in spots that are not typical to land. Not having to spoil a remote scenery with an airstrip.

Another dream is to someday own a house on a lake with my own float plane and sail boat parked next to my house. Well that one is a big dream that I am not sure if will ever happen.

I have read books about float planes. Looked up different schools on the internet. There is a list of schools on the internet.

My examiner for my Commercial Certificate mentioned that sometime later he wants to open a bed and breakfast with a seaplane school in Alaska someday. He already owns the land in Alaska. That would be cool. I will have to watch out for that one.

I have been reading a book, Flying Carpet: The Soul of an Airplane by Greg Brown. The first few chapters were a little slow, and I thought about putting the book down. I kept with it, and then it really got fun and interesting. I just read a chapter about Greg getting his seaplane rating. Very inspiring!! It tells of him getting his rating at Lake Havasu, AZ at a place called La Placa Flying Service.

It is a short chapter, but it describes wonderfully flying low on the Colorado River and lakes built from the river. It sounds wonderful. I have heard of seaplane schools in Florida and Minnesota and Alaska. All very interesting places to try it as well. Arizona sounds interesting and convenient to me.... so maybe someday I will try it. I have flown along the Colorado River many times and been very close to Lake Havasu; just north at Laughlin, NV. It is not a long trip and his discription reminds me of landing at Laughlin except I landed on the land. The thought of landing on the Colorado River next to the airport is very enticing. Maybe you can't quite land there, but nearby on the river or lake.

I looked up La Placa Flying service in Arizona. They still exist, but it doesn't appear they offer an inexpensive 150hp C150 floatplane mentioned in The Flying Carpet. I did find another place in Lake Havasu that is looks interesting for a reasonably priced school, Lake Havasu Seaplane.

Maybe a seaplane rating? It would be fun!

/Brian