Water Flying Concepts

Dale De Remer, Ph.D

This text is written for the professional seaplane pilot who needs to know more about aircraft performance and potential. There are no manuals available on the market for most floatplanes such as C185 or Beaver. The factory airplane manuals can be purchased from the manufacturer, but the addition of 400lbs of floats and struts changes the entire behaviour of the airplane. These aircraft are "one-off" custom-made flying machines, and there is no such thing as a manual for a "185-on-floats". Using a text such as Water Flying Concepts, the skilled operator works with what little information is available to build a composite POH in his brain. This text covers the essentials of seaplane performance analysis, and V-speed calculation.

The author also includes extensive information on planning and flying into the deep (read: "far north"!) wilderness, including wilderness preparedness, navigation, and operations. Topics of interest to wilderness flyers include center of gravity effects on seaplanes, reducing water drag, external loads, stability on water, fuels and fueling, mooring, seaplane camping, and more.

The author, Dale De Remer, holds ATP, CFI-A, CFI-H, CFI-I and MEI licenses with single- and multi-engine land and sea, rotorcraft-helicopter and instrument ratings. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from California State Polytechnic University. He completed his Master of Science and Ph.D. at Utah State University. For 17 years, Dale was a seaplane instructor in both Canada and the USA. He has also been a Field Director for the Seaplane Pilots Association.