float plane

If you want to impress your friends and family, show up at the cottage with a float plane. I had the good fortune to fly up to mine with Jeff Mavor of Lake Country Airways. Besides making me want to buy a float plane and impressing my kids, it was great fun. My Father in Law, Trevor Hodge, wanted to be there when I arrived and the rest of the family followed. Johnson Lake is relatively quiet so the arrival of a float plane is special. It felt great being able to land there and I can really see the benefit of making the trip in an amphibious plane which I can park here are the Club.
Making an Impression: My family posing with me after Jeff Mavor and I land his plane on Johnson Lake, near Ladysmith in Quebec.Under My Wing: Another in the long list of strut studies. The forests in Gatineau Park are just starting to change colour as we return to Constance Lake. Low clouds and virga are visible to the east.Happy Flyers: Jeff Mavor and myself at the controls of Jeff's C-172 float plane. It was a great day.
I'm off now to check on available 185's.

Congratulations to Steven Blackwood, Stephen Keays and Weston Nicholson on obtaining their float plane rating within the past 2 weeks.

Steven Blackwood after his Float Plane solo.

Stephen Keays being congratulated by CFI John Porter after his Float Plane rating

Weston Nicholson on the float plane and gets his rating.

Way to go guys.... all the best!!

As I was driving home today, I heard this story about a teenager, 15, who survived the crash of a float plane and managed to pull his father and uncle out of the wreckage. The other three in the plane, including the teenager's brother, uncle and pilot perished in the resulting fire. The boy tended to his injured father and uncle. His father passed away but the uncle survived.

The plane was a Dehaviland Beaver and the pilot was flying in foggy weather. He had made a precautionary landing and had just taken off again when he radioed that he would be making another precautionary landing. That was the last thing heard from the plane.

The aircraft struck the side of a mountain in level flight, ripping the wings, float and engine off the plane.

Apart from the courage of the boy, a very sad tale.

In aviation, accidents happen. When they do, things go very wrong. Its why we are so safety conscious and why we prepare for the worst.

A large part of avoiding accidents is developing a solid sense of judgment that isn't macho, respects authority, knows that accidents happen and that action can avoid them. What could possibly be so important that it is worth the risk of taking off into marginal weather? What was the pilot thinking? In a similar circumstance, what would you be thinking?

Our ground school program with Algonquin College includes courses on wilderness survival and first aid so that pilots, if they survive the accident, will have the skills and knowledge to survive until help arrives.

If any good comes from a tragedy like this, it is to impress on the rest of us, the need to be prepared and to hone our judgment all the time.

Fly safe.

Cessna 206 lands on the infield by OFC.Yesterday evening, as I picking my daughter up from the day care, I noticed a float plane circling the city. Later that evening, Dispatch called and said that a Cessna 206 on floats had just landed in the grass besides runway 22.

Landing a float plane on the grass is not that unusual. The floats are designed for it and float planes sometimes have to do this each season for storage or to have wheels or skis attached. The 206, though, is an amphibious plane, meaning it has wheels as well as floats, so its landing on grass was likely the result of a problem with the gear.

Glad to see that everything worked out.

Mike.

Another great day at Constance Lake. I managed to solo in a float plane for the first time today. I shared the honor with Niko Grosdanis who also got his rating today. We were in the circuit together as we did our five touch and go's. It was tremendous fun.
Niko Grosdanis after is first solo in a float plane.