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| Iowa City, Iowa 52246 |
| Toll Free: 888-9ALEXIS |
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| Local: 319 337-8665 |
| Fax: 319 351-4102 |
| Email:AlexisParkInn@gmail.com |
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See our new property in Port Aransas, Texas, the "Harbor Inn on Mustang Island": www.HarborInnPortA.com |
This page was last updated on 03/12/2010
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| In recent years, flying boats and float planes have become a rarity -- but in the 1930s, this type of aircraft ruled the skies. Water can be as unforgiving as it is beautiful, as some of these videos show... |
| Amphibious Landing Gone Bad Witness what happens when an amphibious float plane lands on a lake -- with the wheels down! |
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Beaver "Piece of Cake" Landing Contributed by Ab
Jagat. "This spectacular crash was included in the 1982 movie 'Mother
Lode', starring Charleton Heston. There is a neat story that goes
along with this accident. We knew the pilot who was doing the flying for the
movie and thought he'd be doing it all. However, the director knew a guy in
California who flew for the movies and was also an aerobatic showman. He
used to do an act with a man standing on his wing."
"Unfortunately, the pilot wiped him off one day during a performance but apparently this mishap didn't affect his ego or his reputation as a pilot and it was he who the director called upon to do this scene. Lake Lovely Water is about 4,800 feet elevation between Squamish and Whistler, BC, and it's a well-named small lake tucked into a high cliff with a spectacular waterfall at one end that billows and makes rainbows and has a steep drop-off at the other. Malcolm, our friend, was asked to run the Hollywood pilot through the technique needed for this landing for the scene." "Mr. Hollywood pilot had no float plane time and wouldn't accept that flying an aircraft on floats was very different than flying wheels ... besides he was an aerobatic pilot with thousands of hours. Malcolm said the guy would not listen and dismissed him with a 'yeah, yeah.' The bizarre 'landing' was so spectacular that they left it in the film. This film has been used at many a MOT instructional seminar The water landing is at the very beginning of the movie." |
| Catalina Departure The PBY Catalina was the work-horse amphibian of the US Navy during World War II. This video shows the crews pushing the plane into the water by NAS North Island, followed by a departure from San Diego Bay. |
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Dolly Takeoff!
D'ja ever wonder how a float plane gets off a
regular runway after maintenance? Wonder no more.
Contributed by Andrew Wall: "Thought you might enjoy this video! Here is some background about it: You have seen thousands of float planes come and go...but I'll bet you haven't seen one take off like this. Video was taken in Prince George, BC....and got to give the pilot full marks for guts. I imagine you only get one shot at this. Notice the fire truck following them... they obviously had a few doubts themselves. Anyway, you have probably heard in 'aviation lore' about all sorts of things pilots have attempted with airplanes. Well, be prepared to witness one of them. When a floatplane is landed on the grass and taken to the hangar for maintenance, obviously it has to depart once again. Landing a floatplane on grass is easier than becoming airborne on grass. This is where "Dolly" comes in. Put the aircraft on a 'dolly', fire it up, tow it down the runway, and once a certain speed is attained, push the throttle to 'Warp Factor 9' and you are airborne. Get ready; here is how the good people at Hill Aircraft Service Ltd. in Prince George, B.C. accomplish a 'dolly take-off'!" |
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Dolly
Takeoff -- The Cub Version Here's a similar video, but
taken from the perspective of the truck driver. Contributed by David Schuck. " I really enjoy the site and thought you might like to see how we launch our J3 on straight floats from a runway. This was our first attempt and it worked out well. I am driving the pickup towing the trailer, and my brother is in the bed of the pickup with the camera." "The tricky part is matching the truck speed to the airplane speed so that it doesn’t blow off the back of the trailer or climb into the pickup bed. We had radio communications between the cab and the cockpit and an excellent pilot, Mike Kincaid. You can see more at our site www.seaplanerating.com Thanks again for the great videos you share." |
| Fire Fighting Goes Upscale Lake Sherwood is a quiet, very high end gated community in Westlake Village. These super scoopers are using their private lake to help put out the October 2007 wildfires in Southern California. |
| Gone Fishing The opening scene from the movie "Always", featuring a PBY Catalina, an idyllic morning of fishing, and, well, you'll see...! |
| Hoverwing! This video shows a VERY cool "ground effect vehicle" flight demonstration. Kind of a cross between an airplane and a hovercraft. Contributed by Joe McKnight. |
| New 8/28/09: How Not To Take Off In A Floatplane This terrifying video shows a floatplane pilot who is unable to take off, and unwilling to abort. The cameraman nearly becomes the subject of the video, as the plane crashes just beyond him. Contributed by Rick Morawski and Rodney Luck on the same day. |
| Martin Mars Flying Boat Great home video of this awesome 4-engine flying boat in action as a fire-fighting aircraft in the suburbs of Victoria, B.C., Canada. Video shot by Fran Benton, and kindly contributed by her husband, Gordon Hillsden. |
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Seaplane Crash Amateur video of the Grumman Mallard seaplane
crash in Miami, Florida. Initial reports suggest wing spar
failure due to metal fatigue -- but the NTSB report is still pending at this
writing. Click here to view the NTSB report about this crash. |
| Seaplane in Fiord This lovely video shows a seaplane touching down in a Norwegian fiord. |
| Seaplane Under Bridge -- During an airshow, this seaplane pilot surprises everyone by flying beneath a nearby bridge. |
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Wild Landing! Hang on for
one wild and crazy water landing! (Several sources are now describing
this as a TAKE OFF gone bad. Either way, it's a wild ride!) Click here to read the whole story of this incident. Click here to read why it can't be "the" Hoot Gibson piloting this aircraft -- and why it's probably a departure accident, rather than a landing! Received from a spotter: "Regarding the Hoot Gibson controversy. I believe that the Hoot Gibson flying the accident airplane was actually the same gentleman who was the captain of the TWA 727 that experienced asymmetrical leading edge slat extension and rolled inverted at cruising altitude. The incident occurred on April 4 1979 and the aircraft went from 39,000 ft to 5000 ft in about 63 seconds." For info on this incident, see: http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19790404-0 New 10/31/08 info received from Hoot's child, JC Westby-Gibson: "While 'googling' my father I came across your article. I thought you may be interested to know that Peter Westby-Gibson CAPT, USN RET, was also on those same ships during his tours in Vietnam, also a graduate of 'Top Gun'. He went under the call sign of 'Hoot Gibson', aka PW Gibson. Later in his service to the Navy, while serving as the CO for VF-45 (converted to VA in the mid 80's) he was the pilot that actually flew Jimmy Buffet, and a fun tidbit to add, gave him the call sign 'Brillo'." Enjoy, JC Westby-Gibson |
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