Seaplane instructor

[Jay_solo]

Is it true you can instruct for the canadian seaplane endorsement with just a CPL (with Seaplane rating)?

[rigpiggy]

yes, I forget if you need 50 or 100hrs in category/type. You may log all of it for insurance purposes, but transport will only recognize 5 hrs for a higher license.

[_Walker_]

You don't need to hold an instructor rating to teach floats, just 50 hrs seaplane. That being said if your students are PPL, they will not be able to count the dual time with you as dual for the issuance of the CPL
Canadian Aviation Regulations - Part IV, Standard 425 - Flight Training (http://www.tc.gc.ca/CivilAviation/Regserv/Affairs/cars/Part4/Standards/425.htm#425_21)

If you hold an instructor rating AND the FTU you are attached to is licensed to do seaplane training I BELIEVE that forgoes the 50hr requirement... but don't quote me on that... not to mention its probably a piss poor idea...

[TundraBoy]

As far as I know, you don't need an instructor rating, but you need 50 PIC on floats, and a CPL:ok:

[MidgetBoy]

Is the 50 hour requirement just for insurance purposes? Or actual TC requirements.

[Chuck Ellsworth]

The 50 hours is a TC requirement.

A pilot with only fifty hours is on sea planes is not going to be the sharpest knife in the drawer so to speak.

You would be wise to find a high time bush pilot to teach you rather than a low time flight instructor.

[Airspeed-Alive]

Definitely. Watch out for guys trying to pad their logbooks with your money.

[UB6IB9]

A) It’s 50 hrs TT on floats to teach.

B) You don’t need to find an old gray/bald bush pilot to teach you. Doesn’t matter how experienced he/she is THEY ARE NOT going to be able to pass on everything they know in the 6 dual hrs you’re going to receive. What you really need is to find a competent instructor who can teach you the basics of float flying properly!! The rest of the stuff you’ll learn once you’re in the bush.....believe me!

c) I have 1500 hrs on floats and I know I would make a lousy float instructor.

d) Stay away from those “50 hour bush courses”. The next few posts will probably be written by people who have paid for such a course and their posts will be filled with all the good reason you should take one of these cash cows. They are a waste of money. You’ll be given a real bush course free of charge the first day you start working on the dock!!!

[Chuck Ellsworth]

A) It’s 50 hrs TT on floats to teach.

Which means you and your instructor are learning together.


B) You don’t need to find an old gray/bald bush pilot to teach you. Doesn’t matter how experienced he/she is THEY ARE NOT going to be able to pass on everything they know in the 6 dual hrs you’re going to receive. What you really need is to find a competent instructor who can teach you the basics of float flying properly!! The rest of the stuff you’ll learn once you’re in the bush.....believe me!

True you will not learn much in six hours dual, that is why you should search out one of those old bush pilots to teach you more.


c) I have 1500 hrs on floats and I know I would make a lousy float instructor.

The fact that you think you would be a lousy flight instructor is commendable because not everyone can teach.


d) Stay away from those “50 hour bush courses”.

That is a broad statement, a good advanced course taught by someone who is highly qualified and knows how to teach is very worth while.


The next few posts will probably be written by people who have paid for such a course and their posts will be filled with all the good reason you should take one of these cash cows. They are a waste of money.

Here is one that would not be a waste of money.

Amigo Airways Seaplane Academy (http://www.amigoairways.ca/)


You’ll be given a real bush course free of charge the first day you start working on the dock!!!

That is no more true than your statement that all bush flying courses are a waste of money.

[Pilot DAR]

I guess I should do this back to front, as inspired by the quoted poster....

I don't have as much float time as many competent float pilots, and I did not get any of it with a training organization. I got about 50 hours with several old bush pilots, then a float endorsement with a compotent commercial pilot. I am adequately safe in most conditions, and avoid the rest. I can't think of a commercial pilot with 50 hours of float flying who would be the best choice to teach it. Yes, they might know the basics, but there's just too much to know about the float flying environment to get it all from a 50 hour newbie. Truth be told, I feel the same way about any flying instruction from a newbie, go find the old timer for the real wisdom you'll need to stay alive.

Anyone with 1500 hours on floats, who is still alive, obviously knows something about float flying. Choosing to instruct (any form of flying) is a personal choice, which perhaps not everyone should make. Good on you if you recognize your limits!

Nobody can pass it all to a student in 6 hours. The oldtimer can inspire the student to take it cautiously, and seek more knowledge. This would happen by passing on wisdom in the cockpit, on the dock, during a preflight, over a coffee, planning the loading, and on the phone, when you call with a problem. I doubt that hair has anything to do with it. The 50 hour commercial pilot just won't have the wisdom to pass on. The rest of the stuff you might learn in the bush, if you get a job, with no wisdom, and if you don't wreck something first for lack of wisdom. I've fished out a lot of wrecks produced by pilots who thought they had what it takes. If you find a competant instructor to teach floats, they are probably not a 50 hour float plane pilot, but a experienced "bush" pilot. A good float flying school would be a good place to look for such a person.

Yeah, I have heard it's 50 hours to teach. Perhaps the TSB will recommend a change to that rule!

Pilot DAR

[kingoftheslipstream]

There's a guy outta LGA doin' some medium twin jet float work on the Hudson River... goes by the handle "Sully". Check 'im out, I bet he can share a thought or two...
:)

...thanks to Dan Buster for the spelling correction...

[Pilot DAR]

I'd take instruction from Skully any day, though I'm not sure he would teach step taxiing! He sure did a good job, my admiration to him!