this one and you have lots of options open in the LSA world, especially
on the homebuilt side. I've known a number of folks with various
affordable homebuilts from trikes to drifters who have found this the
affordable way to get into flying floats. On the certified side of LSA,
options are bit more limited as the manufacturer either has to use FAA
certified floats or go through a bunch of testing himself.
We've been looking to bring a seaplane on at the school for some time.
We are in a saltwater environment on the Chesapeake Bay where the
seaplane community is nearly dead so we need something composite and
amphibious both which has ruled out all of the float equipped LSAs for
us, so hull was the way to go. We looked at SeaMax and SeaRey and
decided that SeaRey had more of the qualities we were looking for in a
school plane. To fund this and overcome the insurance problem (no
insurance company will insure an amphibian for rental and we want our
customers to be able to use their new ratings) we're assembling a SeaRey
club (insurance companies will allow club members to "rent" the plane
since they are essentially owners) at the flight school that will
leaseback the plane to the school. Members of the club will put up the
capital to purchase the plane and in return have very cheap access to a
well maintained seaplane that they can use as they see fit. As new
graduates want access to a plane we'll bring additional planes on as needed.
So the bottom line is that even with the bigger more expensive seaplane
side of LSA, there's always option for handling funding an insurance
issues. Sometime you just have to get creative.
If you are in the mid Atlantic, swing by our open house at W29 on Sept
26th. We'll have lots of details on our SeaRey club then.
Tailwinds!
Helen
Jim wrote:
> Well hi folks, the name is Jim. I'm just starting to explore the LSA concept. I've been a pilot since '76 and have run the mill on certified planes. Earlier this week I sold my '92 Super Decathlon. I just wasn't flying it enough to justify keeping it anymore. Every year it seems to get harder and harder to stay in 'regular' aviation.
>
> Seaplanes have always caught my attention, and so has the hull insurance. I can't see dumping $130K into a 40 year old C172 on floats and not being able to affordably do hull on it. So... I was thinking of going the ultralight/LSA route. I think to start with I'm going to do some dual towards a seaplane rating just to see if I like it, maybe finish the rating for fun or if it helps with insurance.
>
> I know virtually nothing about this LSA end of aviation. I've done some research on the Aventuras, Bucs and Seareys but don't have a clue how realistic it is. I know floats have advantages, but think for the types of lakes we have around here, a hull bird would be better, but I don't know enough to say for sure.
>
> I haven't found a whole lot of websites with "useful" beginner info on the net. If anyone can throw some good beginner links my way it would be appreciated. Stuff on the regs, the pros and cons of rotax engines, flying/ownership feedback on different birds, I would appreciate it.
>
> I've done some searches on the past threads here, but am so new I don't really know what questions to even ask. Basically any beginner advice would be welcome.
>
> Thanks.
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
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