Our Aim
Our aim is to promote understanding and enjoyment (including enjoyment in the form of recreation) of the special qualities of our countryside. Aviation, particularly water-flying, provides a unique perspective for everyone involved. It brings a professional attitude and develops an understanding of weather, safety, responsibility, water states and navigation. It demonstrates that extra 3rd dimension in life – it helps us see the big picture and is thrilling for all who have experienced it. Whether it is showing somebody for the first time the freedom of waterborne flight or watching a wide-eyed child have their imagination fired with their first experience in an airplane. Curious bystanders and tourists from all over the world have been thrilled at the graceful sight of a plane settling on the water and many have commented how it has added greatly to their experience of the Lakeside. Seaplanes provide a unique attraction in the UK. The licensed, professional attitudes of the aviation community should be harnessed and used as an example of best practice. Seaplanes are a legitimate and legal watersports activity.
Seaplane pilots have had an absolute minimum of 60 hours flight instruction, have passed rigorous exams in navigation, law, weather and human factors. Seaplane pilots sit annual flight- tests, are licensed by the CAA, subjected to annual medical checks, hold radio licences, and are the only Lake users required (by the CAA) to pass a seamanship exam. Seaplane pilots already operate under one of the strictest and most regulated regimes. Aircraft must be maintained by licensed aircraft engineers to the highest CAA standards, must have a noise certificate, are fully insured (including 3rd party) and can be worth anything from £60,000 to £3 million. These are not toys, they cannot just be bought on a whim. It takes an incredible amount of dedication, skill and effort to achieve and operate a seaplane in the UK. By contrast – anyone, whether they be drunk or criminally insane, can go out, buy a boat or jetski (without any set maintenance standard) and take to a Lake, with NO training, no insurance, no appreciation of other lake users, no demonstrated weather or navigation skills.
Seaplane pilots should be held up as an example to all of ‘best practice’ on how to operate responsibly and safely with respect to other users. We can provide the perfect basis for a Code of Conduct for all Lake users. Similar schemes work successfully at Lake Como in Italy and at Loch Earn in Scotland.
Seaplane pilots (with a unique aerial perspective of the landing area) are required by marine law to give way to boats and are solely responsible for avoiding collisions with boats. It must be asked in the interests of fairness, what measures and training do other boat users undergo to avoid unacceptable conflicts with each other? National Experience elsewhere in the world shows seaplanes and boats co-exist happily. At Victoria Harbour in Canada there are 100 seaplane movements and 1,000 boat movements per day. This harbour is relatively small and there has never been a collision between a boat and a seaplane. Lake Union in Seattle has been a seaplane base for 58 years. The lake, which again is considerably small in size has 30,000 seaplane landings a year. Vancouver Harbour has more seaplane movements in a day than in the whole of the UK in 2018! – In the entire USA, National Transport Safety Board statistics show that in 10 million seaplane flying hours, over a 15 year period, there were 3 collisions between boats and – in the same period there were 12,500 fatalities with boat collisions.
Seaplane pilots have had an absolute minimum of 60 hours flight instruction, have passed rigorous exams in navigation, law, weather and human factors. Seaplane pilots sit annual flight- tests, are licensed by the CAA, subjected to annual medical checks, hold radio licences, and are the only Lake users required (by the CAA) to pass a seamanship exam. Seaplane pilots already operate under one of the strictest and most regulated regimes. Aircraft must be maintained by licensed aircraft engineers to the highest CAA standards, must have a noise certificate, are fully insured (including 3rd party) and can be worth anything from £60,000 to £3 million. These are not toys, they cannot just be bought on a whim. It takes an incredible amount of dedication, skill and effort to achieve and operate a seaplane in the UK. By contrast – anyone, whether they be drunk or criminally insane, can go out, buy a boat or jetski (without any set maintenance standard) and take to a Lake, with NO training, no insurance, no appreciation of other lake users, no demonstrated weather or navigation skills.
Seaplane pilots should be held up as an example to all of ‘best practice’ on how to operate responsibly and safely with respect to other users. We can provide the perfect basis for a Code of Conduct for all Lake users. Similar schemes work successfully at Lake Como in Italy and at Loch Earn in Scotland.
Seaplane pilots (with a unique aerial perspective of the landing area) are required by marine law to give way to boats and are solely responsible for avoiding collisions with boats. It must be asked in the interests of fairness, what measures and training do other boat users undergo to avoid unacceptable conflicts with each other? National Experience elsewhere in the world shows seaplanes and boats co-exist happily. At Victoria Harbour in Canada there are 100 seaplane movements and 1,000 boat movements per day. This harbour is relatively small and there has never been a collision between a boat and a seaplane. Lake Union in Seattle has been a seaplane base for 58 years. The lake, which again is considerably small in size has 30,000 seaplane landings a year. Vancouver Harbour has more seaplane movements in a day than in the whole of the UK in 2018! – In the entire USA, National Transport Safety Board statistics show that in 10 million seaplane flying hours, over a 15 year period, there were 3 collisions between boats and – in the same period there were 12,500 fatalities with boat collisions.
Throughout the world extensive use of seaplanes is made by ecological and environmental agencies. Time and again governmental surveys have shown that seaplanes (in contrast with other forms of transport) leave no trace of their visit, require minimal (if any) infrastructure, road network or landscaping and do not pollute the water with sewerage or diesel/water mix unlike many motor cruisers on our rivers and lakes. Any exhaust gases are dissipated in the air above the waters surface. Seaplanes are not coated in toxic anti-fouling paints and do not chop up the water with propeller wake. They are recognised worldwide as being more sustainable and environmentally friendly than any other motorised transport.