Yes, I agree, the fenders don’t sink as well, but they float on their sides not bad…
See, land plane pilots, all the fussy things you don’t need to worry about on wheels? Just chock it where it coasts to a stop, and you’re set!
Regarding the OP, the guy giving the demo Lyle Panepinto is more than a dry land swimmer. I’ve read lots of things he’s written, and about his operation in Louisiana where they supply the oil industry. They are often docking bows to on barges and the like, operating off canals and lots of other stuff you wouldn’t get in Lake Como, shall we say. He’s a guy I’d sure like to visit for an insight into his methods.
Agree that commercial seaplane operations bring home a reality that the basic rating can never hope to cover.
William
Great videos, I miss my old stomping grounds! Phantom lake is pretty nice, and that whole area of British Columbia is awesome for float flying.
I always find it interesting to land at mountain lakes which are higher than the valley terrain. You fly up the valley, see a water fall to one side, spiral up and all of sudden the lake appears
.
Float plane docking can be an adventure in itself, especially with only one door! Before installing a tightrope between the front of the two floats, I had to straddle the cowling of a Champ like a ‘horse’ to get to the other side on more than one occasion. This is particularly interesting if you are hand propping and don’t have a helper. You push off the dock on the wrong side, straddle over to the door side, turn the ignition on, swing the prop and jump in! Hopefully you have accounted for the wind and current, and the engine starts! Good times!
My wife calls these experiences “getting full value” from the floatplane .
I have had to nose into docks before, for example if there are vertical support pillars which guide tidal docks as they rise up and down. If you dock normally the wings can hit the posts; however if you nose in you are safe (the floats stick out further than the prop). However, I have found that most fueling marina’s in float plane areas are aware of the difficulties, and often a helper will come out to aid you :-).
Excellent stuff….I know nothing about floatplanes but a bit about boats….I never cast off in my boat unless the engine is running lest I fail to get it started…how do you guys handle a difficult hot start or other failed start? Get ready with the anchor?
Anthony, as a sailor and a pilot I am with you on the “don’t cast away without having it started”, but once in a while, for whatever reason, I seem to do so 
. There is no problem if you are tied to the dock on the door side and can have a rope easily set up. If you were really concerned you could jig some fancy tying to the dock on the non-door side and pull the rope through the window on the other side, although I never bothered. In a lake with calm wind it is benign, you just get out the oar (mandatory equipment) and paddle back to dock.
It is only very rarely that you get in an unusual situation where the wind, current, dock spacing, small boats or people nearby (don’t want the prop spinning) or other factors contribute to the adventure. I guess there is a bit of risk that it won’t start. You have to play your cards, and hope that you have a good hand (and are okay with the consequences). It never happened to me, but I know that the previous owner of the airplane had a misadventure on a river when it would not start. Apparently, there is always an airplane ‘spotter’ available to document the lack of action… (see photo below ).
Most of the time you can spin the aircraft around, or get a helper. Also, if you think that it might be critical to have a perfect start, you can shut the engine down on the magento switch instead of the mixture. That way, if you are restarting in the next few minutes, the mixture in the engine is likely to be perfect. There is obviously the resultant danger of a potentially hot-prop and perfectly primed engine, so I wouldn’t make a habit of this, and would only apply it under strictly controlled scenarios.
I highly recommend float flying… it is addictive!!
