What do you do after landing long in a floatplane
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What do you do after landing long in a floatplane
With very minimal float experience and all of it on a nice long river, I wonder what a pilot does once they have touched down and discovered that they landed too long. On pavement, one jumps on the brakes. Is there anything that can be done at all, or do you just sit there and wait for impact with the far shoreline.
"C-GYJX, a float-equipped Cessna A185F aircraft operated by Atleo River Air Service, was
conducting a flight from Tofino Harbour (CAB4), BC to Ahousat, BC with 1 pilot and 2 passengers
on board. During the landing at Ahousat in gusty wind conditions, the pilot landed long, and the
aircraft was unable to stop before running into shoreline rocks. There were no injuries. The aircraft
received substantial damage limited to the aircraft's floats."
"C-GYJX, a float-equipped Cessna A185F aircraft operated by Atleo River Air Service, was
conducting a flight from Tofino Harbour (CAB4), BC to Ahousat, BC with 1 pilot and 2 passengers
on board. During the landing at Ahousat in gusty wind conditions, the pilot landed long, and the
aircraft was unable to stop before running into shoreline rocks. There were no injuries. The aircraft
received substantial damage limited to the aircraft's floats."
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Re: What do you do after landing long in a floatplane
Well obviously, every good float captain has an anchor! Open door, throw anchor out, wait, If that doesn't work, jump into lake after anchor !
Ok seriously, digging the heel of the floats in or a sudden turn may do it, however, I am still in favour of an ejection seat !
Ok seriously, digging the heel of the floats in or a sudden turn may do it, however, I am still in favour of an ejection seat !
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Re: What do you do after landing long in a floatplane
Or dig the floats in. Ie nose down but careful not to flip it
Re: What do you do after landing long in a floatplane
How do you judge how much nose down you can induce before it digs in to far?
Re: What do you do after landing long in a floatplane
I have a fair amount of float plane flying but never received training in putting the nose down to shorten a landing.Not a floatplane pilot. Suspect "not very"
So I am interested to find out if such training has been added to float plane handling.
For sure I never tried it because if I were about to run into the shoreline I would rather hit the rocks and damage the floats than flip the airplane over trying to stop it.
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Re: What do you do after landing long in a floatplane
Works good in a twin otter.
Re: What do you do after landing long in a floatplane
On which kind of floats?Works good in a twin otter.
My question is why would you need to use it on any airplane ?
Especially a Twin Otter.
Re: What do you do after landing long in a floatplane
Not really necessary on the Twin Otter as you have reverse power.
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Re: What do you do after landing long in a floatplane
CAP floats. Sometimes you need to land really short. Perhaps your experience flying twins on floats differed from mine, but I always found stick forward and full reverse worked well for stopping really short.
Re: What do you do after landing long in a floatplane
I have heard that while digging the floats in is usually dangerous, the Twin Otter is different.
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Re: What do you do after landing long in a floatplane
Indeed. There are a couple things about CAP twin flying technique that I found a bit different from other float planes I had flown.
Re: What do you do after landing long in a floatplane
Yes CAP floats on the Twin Otter allowed a fair amount of nose down during the landing, however considering the availability of reverse to shorten the landing I tended to not use nose down because I just did not feel comfortable using that technique.CAP floats. Sometimes you need to land really short. Perhaps your experience flying twins on floats differed from mine, but I always found stick forward and full reverse worked well for stopping really short.
It was a personal choice.
Re: What do you do after landing long in a floatplane
Shut down the engine and hope the damage will be minimal? Even on pavement, brakes can only do so much. The mistakes have already been made at that point, and -unfortunately- you can't fix every mistake at any time.pelmet wrote: ↑Wed Jun 12, 2019 5:31 pm With very minimal float experience and all of it on a nice long river, I wonder what a pilot does once they have touched down and discovered that they landed too long. On pavement, one jumps on the brakes. Is there anything that can be done at all, or do you just sit there and wait for impact with the far shoreline.
As an AvCanada discussion grows longer:
-the probability of 'entitlement' being mentioned, approaches 1
-one will be accused of using bad airmanship
-the probability of 'entitlement' being mentioned, approaches 1
-one will be accused of using bad airmanship
Re: What do you do after landing long in a floatplane
This is key. This is why a good pilot stays a minute or so ahead of the plane - "from where I am now, where could this plane be one minute from now?". If the answer is bad, adjust something now, later may be too late.The mistakes have already been made at that point, and -unfortunately- you can't fix every mistake at any time.
Finding yourself hanging on to a sinking plane is very unpleasant - avoid! I would rather run up on shore, if that seemed to be a choice. The better choice is to avoid landing into places which exceed your skill. I have spent hundreds of water landings, including yesterday, refining my technique into areas of known dimension. I like to choose features in the body of water, which I can check later on Google earth, to see how much space I'd used. Underwater hazards notwithstanding, I find Google earth an excellent tool to assist in my decision making as to where I will operate on the water.
I was right seat decades back, when a step turn was used to prevent hitting shore in a 185. It worked, but scared the heck out of me! I asked the pilot owner: "If you lent me your plane, and though I would do that in it, would you lend it to me again?". His sheepish reply was that hitting that spot on shore was where he wrecked his previous 185. With a little skill and control, I was able to land into the same little bay with space to spare.
Re: What do you do after landing long in a floatplane
Is a go around out of the question?
Re: What do you do after landing long in a floatplane
Absolutely digging the floats will stop you short - when I was doing it for a living it was taught and obviously you need to know the aircraft and the floats
beaver - works great
Norseman - also works well but a little caution on small floats
Cessna on EDO also works well but no aggressive moves
185 on whips - just push right to the stops
bch18 just ease it forward off the slippery point and keep it there.
Pick the largest gust and land in it and you won't land long in the first place.
Digging the heals is just wrong. I have watched so many guys skipping down the lake and even being lifted back into the air in a good gust.
beaver - works great
Norseman - also works well but a little caution on small floats
Cessna on EDO also works well but no aggressive moves
185 on whips - just push right to the stops
bch18 just ease it forward off the slippery point and keep it there.
Pick the largest gust and land in it and you won't land long in the first place.
Digging the heals is just wrong. I have watched so many guys skipping down the lake and even being lifted back into the air in a good gust.
Black air has no lift - extra fuel has no weight
http://www.blackair.ca
http://www.blackair.ca
Re: What do you do after landing long in a floatplane
First of all a go around would have prevented the need for this thread.
Digging the floats works well. Have used it many times to stop, not from hitting the shore but to stop quicker especially in rough water. Works great in a Twin Otter in heavy seas. Pick the spot, plant it, stick full forward and full reverse at the same time. It also works great in stopping a Beech 18 quicker.
Digging the floats works well. Have used it many times to stop, not from hitting the shore but to stop quicker especially in rough water. Works great in a Twin Otter in heavy seas. Pick the spot, plant it, stick full forward and full reverse at the same time. It also works great in stopping a Beech 18 quicker.
You Can Love An Airplane All You Want, But Remember, It Will Never Love You Back!
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Re: What do you do after landing long in a floatplane
Push forward hard once its on the water it wont flip,but it will porpoise.
Re: What do you do after landing long in a floatplane
Say what now?BamajiAirInc. wrote: ↑Fri Jun 14, 2019 7:27 am Push forward hard once its on the water it wont flip,but it will porpoise.
There's either some info missing or you're going to have a bad time really soon.
As an AvCanada discussion grows longer:
-the probability of 'entitlement' being mentioned, approaches 1
-one will be accused of using bad airmanship
-the probability of 'entitlement' being mentioned, approaches 1
-one will be accused of using bad airmanship
Re: What do you do after landing long in a floatplane
Ahhh..... that's not something I'd be trying 'cause I read it on the internet! Perhaps with competent instruction and supervision, but doing this can introduce huge risk if things aren't right. 'Ever found yourself trying to stay afloat next to a sinking plane?Push forward hard once its on the water it wont flip,but it will porpoise.
Howabout just fly proper landings which do not require dramatic action to correct....