I'm not sure of this, but I doubt there is such a thing as a float endorsement. Not in Canada anyway. It was part of the training given by individual operators who used floats. Operating a helicopter on floats is not much different than on skids. The floats get in the way of some of the downdrafting air from the main rotors and so lessen some of the lift capability in the hover.You won't get as much off the ground in no- wind situation and cruise speed will be less. If you do start the machine floating free on water, you'll do a couple of lazy revolutions before tail rotor gets up speed and authority is sufficient to hold you straight.
A bit obvious I know, but try not to land on sharp objects as putting patches on is time consuming as they are always on the bottom.
I've also heard that uneven air pressures in your floats can seriously enhance the possibility of ground reasonance in certain types, but I have no experience of that. I can tell you it definitely does with uneven tyre pressures in certain types.
No reason you can't do running takeoffs on water if too heavy to hover.This was done on long ferry flights when loaded up with spares etc and fuel was burned off en route so no problem at the other end with hovering.
Can't think of anything else useful to tell you as I think you can just go out and fly it. Hope this helps.
[ 04 January 2002: Message edited by: ditchy ]</p>