Helpful hints for new and old Lake pilots
(Or common mistakes)
 By John Staber
Attempting to fly in conditions beyond the pilot’s proficiency -
No more comment
Over control of the elevator (pitch) in rough water -
Pick a point in the distance to help hold the attitude the
same throughout takeoff and landing, rather than adjusting pitch for each wave
passing under the hull.
Attempting to “put” the airplane on the water after a skip or bounce -
Never try to “put” the aircraft on the water with forward
wheel or down elevator. Hold the landing or step attitude righteously and
control the rate of descent with small adjustments to the throttle if needed,
and wait for it to land itself. Relax back pressure ever so slightly after
touchdown. Wings must be level. Do not be in a rush to transition to a full
stall landing, as you probably have excess speed and are not high enough off the
water to execute a tail low landing.
Not recognizing when to transition to a full stall landing -
The general rule is when all else fails during a step landing.
In most cases, if the attitude is still correct after a skip out, and very
little altitude is gained, the aircraft will remain on the water at the next
touchdown. The cause of the skip is several things - excess nose high attitude,
excess speed, excess rate of descent, flying out of a wind gust. The common
mistake is excess up elevator upon the next contact with the water, resulting in
the aircraft skipping out again and again. In this case reduce power to idle and
slowly apply full up elevator without ballooning. The wheel must be held full
back with no power or you will continue to skip out again and again.
 Not recognizing when to execute a glassy water landing -
Anytime the surface is questionable due to sun reflection,
overcast sky, or mixed glassy and ripples. It is the most dangerous condition of
seaplane flying.
Failure to use full control input when needed -
Getting on the step in a crosswind. Tight step turns.
Crosswind land landings. Full stall landings.
Failure to look out the window during gear repositioning -
We can see all three gear, why not look out at it, not only
during a landing check, but when we have asked it to come up or down. We will
see immediately if there is a retraction or extension problem. It is possible to
have a gear light with one gear in the wrong position. All it takes is a switch
corroded or stuck in the closed position on the problem gear. Look out the
window !
Failure to use rudder to control direction -
This applies whether high or low speed, in the air or on the
water, on the step or in displacement. Ailerons should be used be used only to
keep the wings level or to plant the inboard float firmly on the water in a step
turn. Rudder should be used to change the direction of a step turn.
Entering step turns with excessive water speed -
All step activity should be done at reduced power settings so
as to keep the speed under control, with the majority of the weight of the
aircraft on the hull, not on the wings. One should have to add power to keep the
aircraft on the step when entering a step turn.
Failure to use enough up elevator in step turns -
Just as in the air, the nose wants to go down in a turn,
therefore back pressure is required. The aircraft wants to slow down in a turn,
therefore power must be added, forcing the nose down, therefore more back
pressure is needed. With this extra back pressure, the aircraft wants to slow
down, resulting in more power which requires more back pressure until finally a
happy medium is reached. The friction of the hull contact with the water adds to
this slow down. Without this back pressure the center of buoyancy is ahead of
the center of gravity resulting in a very unstable condition which can result in
a quick 180 degree change of direction known as a water loop. Up trim is a must.
In rolling out of the turn,with rudder, power must be reduced along with the
extra back pressure.
 Full power application close to the surface, water or land -
When executing a go-around, smoothly apply about one-half
throttle, assume a level attitude and slowly increase power to full,
compensating for the downward pitch of the nose. If you have a sink rate
started, immediate full power will accentuate the sink rate and it is possible
that the aircraft will touch down again, therefore we must be in the correct
attitude which is the step landing attitude. We must regain flying speed,
therefore we must be in the correct attitude which is the level or water landing
attitude. If you are nose high, speed will not be gained, and of course, the
wings must be kept level.
Area reconnaissance (water) -
Upon approaching our water environment, visually check gear up
for water. When reaching your landing area reduce the throttle to 20 inches, put
the flaps down and trim for level flight. Most common mistake is to do none of
the above which results in a continually descending turn over our landing area,
resulting in tight turns close to the ground at slow speeds, flaps up and
throttle reduced. Need I say more. A low pass does nothing more than alert the
neighbors of your impending arrival and makes a lot of noise. It is much easier
to scan the area from about 800 feet above the surface. We are looking for
obstructions like rocks, wires, and floating debris, approach and departure
paths, swells, wind direction, boats, wakes, beaching area and the like. Circle
at least once as the view will change with reference to where the sun is shining
from, revealing many new things, especially wires strung across the landing
area. Stay close enough to the landing area, so that you do not lose sight of
objects below and that should you have an engine failure at this point, you will
make the landing area. Fly a downwind and base leg as you would at an airport
and start your descent after turning base leg (this keeps both approaches
alike). Check gear up, flaps down on downwind, base and final by looking outside
at the gear.
Allowing the aircraft to leave rough water before it is ready to fly -
By rough water I mean over 12 inch waves. Generally there is
an imbedded wave every 20 - 30 waves, which is higher than the rest. Any wave
hitting the hull will tend to push the nose up, but this one is the worst. Care
must be taken to keep the nose at the proper attitude when crossing this. A
slight relaxation of back pressure may be necessary when crossing this wave to
prevent being propelled skyward. Should this happen maintain the same correct
attitude (the step landing attitude) righteously. If the aircraft is not ready
to fly, it will descend and recontact the water at the proper attitude and fly
off again when it is ready. If the attitude is not kept level, the speed will
not increase for takeoff. Should you decide to abort the takeoff, reduce power
very slowly and relax slightly on the back pressure to compensate for the nose
up tendency when the power is reduced. More than one Lake pilot has been left
hanging nose high at 20 feet of altitude with no airspeed due to yanking off the
power abruptly with no elevator compensation.
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