Floatplane flies under a bridge.

[India Four Two]

A five-year old video has just reappeared as a news item in Canada. It shows a floatplane taking off on the Ottawa River and flying under a bridge during the departure.
http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2484314264/

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/float-plane-take-off-under-bridge-unidentified-1.5241483

A bit more risk than I would care for, but not the "shock, horror, near-disaster" it was made out to be.

On the west coast, floatplanes routinely fly under high-voltage power cables. Here's a video of a Beaver landing at Montague Harbour on Galliano Island, an area I am familiar with. Note the cable markers on the 230 kV transmission line at 0:30 to 0:45:
https://vimeo.com/6045623

There are cables with 125' clearance over both harbour entrances.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/811x639/screen_shot_2019_08_10_at_12_15_26__f720d0f2b7eb7f14e23ff71b c5425d23ff3129e3.png

[DaveReidUK]

That was SOP for Chalks at Nassau - takeoff from the channel between New Providence Island and Paradise Island, and usually airborne by the time it got to the bridge.

[jimjim1]

Perhaps off-topic but it's a nice photo:-)

Ray Hannah
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/588x375/spitfire_ray_hannah_mh434bridge_4c8c47fb65717918a68a0b399c4e 8e771c0c7578.jpg

[Steepclimb]

That's nothing what about Derek Piggott? 15 times through the 'wide' arch, 17 the narrow one!
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https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/600x385/examiner24052013viaduct_large_d37aeb964a3be29f48ca413e8acbae c92d6dc41e.jpg

[BluSdUp]

Just watched the Beaver video, Cool!
A bit to crowded for me , but then I am old and no balled!

With regards to the Spit under that bridge:
The RAF was on a bomb/ mine raid with a Twin into Karmsundet and Haugesund harbor during the War and was strafing some Nazi positions and got some heavy akk akk back, so he dropped to a few feet up Smedasundet down town Haugesund as they had problems shooting that low.
His plan was to pass under Risøy Bridge as it has 21 meters clearance under it.
A plan he quickly abandoned and pulled up into the bullet hail, as the Krauts had hung chains and wires down from the bridge. Just in case.
Ended up with some extra ventilation holes for his trip home over the North Sea.
Sorry , no video.
Regards
CptB

[Haraka]

As a kid I remember my father coming home to our quarter a RAF St. Eval. after being in a Sea Otter that had flown in to a bridge over the River Tamar in the very early 50's .

[treadigraph]

There used to be a Cessna 180 floatplane operation shuttling well-heeled commuters between Long Island and NY/CT seaside communities and Wall Street; the service flew under La Guardia approach, over the various East River bridges except I believe one of them, possibly the Brooklyn as it's so close to the Wall Street jetty and heliport.

And then there was the Mad Major!

[Haraka]

Treads!
Chris Draper was a family friend and on a Christmas ,] in the mid 60's stayed with us and showed us the film taken from inside the Auster ,Chris reckoned that ,quite safely he could have taken a formation of three up the river .what is not recorded is that he skipped over those bridges that he considered in any way a bit dicey.
To sit and and talk to a Camel pilot was a rare privilege for a 16 year old !

[treadigraph]

Must have been a great character to have known! Yes, I understood he'd hopped over one or two (Hungerford Bridge?) and also gave Tower Bridge a miss as he'd flown under that twenty years earlier and didn't wish to trouble the City of London Police a second time!

[Haraka]

Chris's earlier flight through Tower Bridge resulted in a Police statement pointing out the severe damage that would have been inflicted ON THE BRIDGE if he had hit it....... :)

[Procrastinus]

I am not a float plane pilot, but I would have thought that in the event of an engime failure, he/she would be better placed under the bridge that at a slower speed over the bridge.