2 Pro Seaplane drop-off in Alaska

Southfork1 · Apr 21, 2023

Followed a beaver on his way out after dropping clients off at a fishing lodge in Alaska. fyi- I'm not over it but behind and panned forward.

GFields · Apr 21, 2023

Awesome video!

moldorf · Apr 22, 2023

that's a really nice quick video...great job!

what part of Alaska? Looks like SE

Southfork1 · Apr 22, 2023

moldorf said:
that's a really nice quick video...great job!

what part of Alaska? Looks like SE

Hi. Yep, SE, an hour puddle jump flight South from Juneau.

moldorf · Apr 22, 2023

Southfork1 said:
Hi. Yep, SE, an hour puddle jump flight South from Juneau.

I thought so

I spent 4 years living in Juneau and that looked so much like what I remembered of the inland passage(s)

we spent several weeks building bunkhouses and a core sample warehouse on Admiralty Island for a mining company. 'Commuted' from Juneau to the West side of the island, and back, almost weekly in float planes. Mostly it was Beaver, but once it was an Otter. Only a 30 minute flight, but it was a little unnerving at times because the pilots were fearless with weather.

MavicFlyer2 · Apr 22, 2023

Great video you shot and you composed the entire video great. I am curious if the pilot and yourself talked about it before he took off ? He is packing a bit more horsepower then you are...lol.

Cymruflyer · Apr 22, 2023

That was nice and also good contrasting colours. I'm a pilot and have flown floats too and in your video it shows the typical float plane practice to get unstuck more quickly from the water. As you increase your speed and get your floats on step, you tilt your wings slightly to get onto just one float and then you lift off.

This gets you off the water more quickly than staying on both floats until you unstick, because floats tend to want to hold you on the water. Therefore, by lifting one float off the water, you have less areas to hold you onto the water, with just one float. You may not know this, but that is why you do that on water take offs.

Of course, on a runway/hard surface, you lift off both main wheels at the same time, since there is no stick factor to contend with, as when flying off floats.

CorralesDan · Apr 22, 2023

My wife and I flew in an Otter out of Juneau to a salmon dinner at a lodge years ago. A great experience. Thanks for bringing back that memory.

twickers14 · Apr 22, 2023

Cymruflyer said:
That was nice and also good contrasting colours. I'm a pilot and have flown floats too and in your video it shows the typical float plane practice to get unstuck more quickly from the water. As you increase your speed and get your floats on step, you tilt your wings slightly to get onto just one float and then you lift off.

This gets you off the water more quickly than staying on both floats until you unstick, because floats tend to want to hold you on the water. Therefore, by lifting one float off the water, you have less areas to hold you onto the water, with just one float. You may not know this, but that is why you do that on water take offs.

Of course, on a runway/hard surface, you lift off both main wheels at the same time, since there is no stick factor to contend with, as when flying off floats.

That is brilliant to know. I spotted the one float lift and wondered if it was on purpose. So it was.

Cymruflyer · Apr 22, 2023

twickers14 said:
That is brilliant to know. I spotted the one float lift and wondered if it was on purpose. So it was.

Yes, it was on purpose and you will always see that if the water is relatively calm, with any well taught float plane pilot. The absolute worst conditions to get unstuck, is when the water is like glass. So, another little trick all good float plane pilots learn for that sort of condition, is to taxi out and do a large figure 8 on the water and then back taxi and turn and take off running through the figure 8 you just made.

Disturbing the water like that makes it easier for the floats to become unstuck and this is especially useful if you have a small lake to take off in. Having disturbed water on a no wind day and getting on one float, once on step, gets you off the water more quickly, for such conditions. There is a lot more to float flying than land-based operation.

You also have to take into consideration the slope angle if in mountainous areas, of the ground coming down to the lake. Floats create so much more drag than just wheels, which results in a slower climb out over a greater distance. Therefore, it is imperative that you have the space for such a situation. You can get into some very small places but getting out is the thing you have to consider, before ever landing into that space. Smallish lake and steep terrain going down into the lakeshore is a real problem.