Published by Eric Epplett on Mon, Dec 29, 2014
Wings, Waves, and Western
Josh Blain
Aviation Flight Science
I had my landing spot in sight and started to go through the aircraft’s checklist. I was 1,000 feet above where I wanted to land and flying the traffic pattern spot on. I turned base, checked my airspeed, and it was good. I turned final, added full flaps with another glance at the airspeed indicator. Coming over the trees I went power idle and started my flare. I knew I made contact when I heard SPLASH! Normally airplanes are in emergency situations when they land on water, such as the Miracle on the Hudson, US Airways flight 1549. This was no ordinary airplane; this was Western Michigan University’s College of Aviation seaplane, a beautiful Piper Super Cub on amphibious floats. The airplane was originally a conventional tail dragger, like most of the Piper Cubs flying today, until a project was undertaken by Western Michigan University’s College of Aviation maintenance faculty to install floats. When I was a prospective student, I toured the College of Aviation and fell in love with the seaplane and knew I wanted to fly it.
I started my flight training at Western Michigan University’s College of Aviation in the fall of 2010 flying the Cirrus SR-20 working on my private pilot’s license. I had flown occasionally in high school but not with the intention to receive a license. I loved flying the Cirrus SR-20 especially with the Avidyne R9 Avionics. The Cirrus SR-20 and Avidyne R9 can do just about anything an airliner can. Later, in my instrument rating course, I would learn its full potential; I really felt like I was the captain on a jetliner. Once I completed my commercial single engine license it was finally time to start my seaplane training and I still remember getting into the seaplane for the first time. It was a tight squeeze compared to the Cirrus SR-20 that I had been accustomed to. It was also the first airplane I’ve flown to have tandem seating. The cockpit was also very different. I’d flown airplanes with steam gauges before, notably WMU’s Piper PA-44 Seminole and PA-28 Arrow for my commercial multi and single engine licenses, but the seaplane had the most minimalist cockpit I’ve seen. It did have a GPS and transponder but it didn’t even have an attitude indicator. I asked my instructor about the lack of an attitude indicator to which he responded: “who needs an attitude indicator when you have the horizon” and pointed to the windscreen that offered great visibility.
I completed my preflight inspection, which was just like any other preflight inspection I’ve done, except now I had to pump the excess water out of the floats. I started the engine and taxied to the runway, added full power and off we went. The airplane lifted off the runway with little hesitation. I had become familiar with the practice areas over the two years I had been a flight student but I was always at higher altitudes. Since the lesson only entailed take off and landings on water, there was no need to climb above one thousand feet above the ground, and now I could see the farm fields and country roads with better detail.
Within a few minutes, we had arrived at one of the lakes in the local area. I noticed the lake had a few waves but for the most part was pretty flat. I surveyed the area, runways usually don’t have boats or jet skiers but the lake can be a different story! On a related note, during one of my flights there was a jet skier who wanted to race us as we took off. There weren’t any to contend with that day so I had the lake all to myself. I flew my pattern, usually there are not any houses or trees right next to an airport’s runway but on lakes the shoreline is prime real estate. It was a very cool feeling to be just feet over someone’s house right before we touched down. I saw many cool things during my few hours in the seaplane.
After about three weeks of training I successfully passed my seaplane check ride. The seaplane course at Western Michigan University was definitely something I will remember for the rest of my life.