A few years ago I went to Norcal Aviation to get my seaplane rating. At that time I could only afford to get a single engine add-on rating. So, I chose to get a Commercial add-on rating, training in the only Piper super-cub in the world on floats. Terry, the owner of the Norcal Aviation, and an FAA DPE (examiner) was very kind, and arranged for an accelerated course for me so I don’t lose too much time away from work and family. Within 3 days I was ready, and get my commercial add-on seaplane rating on my ATP certificate. The only reason why I could not do the add-on at the ATP level was because the Piper super-cub did not have any Navigation instruments, so no instrument approaches, so no ATP.
Then about a couple years later, I went back to Norcal Aviation again, and this time I did my ATP add-on on the only Piper Apache on floats. Excellent experience again. And what a beautiful airplane!
During my seaplane ratings, one thing among many others that I learnt was, get on the step. This is when the seaplane gets moving on the water for the purpose of take-off, you move the control yoke forward to get the trailing edge of the float out of the water and the entire float ride the top layer of the water. This reduces the drag many times, and help the aircraft accelerate to the normal take-off speed as quickly as possible. If you do not get the aircraft on the step (i.e. ride the water) the aircraft will never be able to accelerate fast enough for a take-off.
In the example video here, this de Havilland Beaver pilot was never able to, or for whatever reason, never got the aircraft on the step. If you notice, the trailing edge of the floats never got out of the water. So the aircraft never had enough speed for a normal and safe take-off. I can’t say enjoy the video this time, but please watch it and learn.
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