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FLYING FISH 'NO LIMITS' SEAPLANE CLUB
Flying Fish, a seaplane school based at the St. Charles County Airport north of St. Louis, is launching the No Limits Flying Club this spring with a brand- new Progressive Aerodyne amphibious SLSA Searey. Club members will be able to fly the Searey solo to numerous lakes, rivers and airports in the St. Louis area.
Club membership is open to pilots of all experience levels, and dues are low— just $150 a month. Members pay $125 fin hour wet to rent the Searey. The club has a non-equity structure—members do not pay for an ownership stake in the Searey. Club members are insured for $1 million with $100,000 per-seat limitation when flying the club Searcy.
The required 15-hour instructional checkout includes tailwheel and LSA SES endorsements if needed. Check rides for the SKS rating also arc available if desired.
Flying Fish's goal, according to owner Chris Hinote, is to "help more pilots safely get out on the water and enjoy all that seaplane flying has to offer."
Flying Fish has an online store to provide all the essential gear an active seaplane pilot may need. Club members will have exclusive access to early releases of new products, discounted event tickets, and specials on merchandise throughout the year.
Flying Fish will hold its first annual Hangar Hula Luau Saturday, May 5 to celebrate the start of seaplane season. A traditional whole roast pig dinner will be served beginning at 5:00 pm. The hula girls of Tropical Fire Hula will greet guests with a lei and a smile, then entertain with traditional hula dancing before inviting guests to learn to hula.
For more information about Flying Fish, the No Limits Flying Club, and the Hangar Hula Luau, visit
https://fly- ingfishseaplanes.com/adventures-in-sea- planes or call Rachel at 340-514-1680.
SEAPLANE BINGO FUNDS AVIATION SCHOLARSHIP
Bingo, the world's most socially acceptable game of chance, is about to get wet. Come Saturday, April 7 at 1:00 p.m., bingo will become a water- borne game when Jones Brothers Co. Air & Seaplane Adventures in Tavares,
Florida, stages the first-ever Seaplane Bingo on the surface of Lake Dora.
The event is being held as part of Seaplane-A-Palooza, the annual pre- Sun 'n Fun splash-in hosted by Tavares, "America's Seaplane City." Jones Brothers will use CVC piping to build a giant grid resembling a bingo card, and float it on the lake just offshore from Tavares. Participants will wager on which square a large bingo ball will land on when tossed from a Jones Brothers seaplane flying at 200 feet.
Four games will be payed, followed by a Bonus Round. Winners are awarded experience prizes (see helow). All proceeds from the sale of squares goes to a $5,000 scholarship for an area high school student who wants to pursue education in an aviation field, "The City ofTavares has our back every step of the way," noted Jones Brothers owner Rob Galloway, whose business is based at the Tavares Seaplane Base. "For all the community does for us, we feel that it's time for us to start giving something back."
The prize for the first Bingo game is a Jones Brothers Air Land & Sea Package for two for including a Tavares boat, plane, and train ride, with lunch. The cost to play is $10 per square.
Game two prize is a Tavares Stay & Play Package for two including a sunset flight, one-night stay at Key West Resort in Tavares, and pub crawl with $20 gift cards for each of nine Tavares establishments. Cost to play is $25 per square.
Game three prize is a Seaplane Bar Hop for four with $20 gift cards at five Tavares establishments. Cost is $50 per square.
Game four prize is a Bahamas Vacation for two including round-trip charter flight with Air Unlimited and a three-night stay at Treasure Cay Beach Marina and Golf Resort. Cost is $100 per square.
Gamers must purchase at least one square in each of the four games to play the free Bonus Round, which carries a prize of a two-night stay at the Orlando Ritz Carlton with round-trip transportation provided by Southern Elegance Limo and a romantic dinner at Norman's.
Seaplane Bingo sponsors include Searey; Lakeand Aircraft Maintenance; Wipaire, Inc.; Sunair Aviation; Air Unlimited; and Aviation Insurance Resources.
For more information and to purchase squares, contact (ones Brothers at
www.JonesAirandSea.com/Bingo.
They could have meant the plane, or just visiting the country generally, but, fuelled by the niggling tales of negativity seen on the evening news, there was a high level of concern among the few with whom I'd discussed my impending research trip.
One thing I've worked out along life's journey is that trepidation generated through preconceived ideas can shepherd you away from great opportunity. It's partly why I never told anyone 1 was heading off to London, let alone the world, in my little Searey; I was worried I'd be told I was a fool and be psyched out of going. (See "Around the World in a Searey. Yes, a Searey." Water Flying, July/August 2016, page 16.)
After the circumnavigation in Southern Sun, the Searey that proved to be a tough little plane, I realized that if I was being honest to myself, I was lucky to have made it home. As much as I love her and she saved my life, I knew that future missions would need a bigger, more suitable aircraft. Toward the end of my journey I'd made a list of the key attributes required for the next Southern Sun. I knew I wanted to stick with a flying boat that also had:
A stirring painting in Samara of the glory days of Mother Russia.
• Two engines
• Diesel power
• 120-knot cruise speed
• Four to six seats
• Long-range built in fuel tanks
• All composite cnstruction
1 Capable of salt-water operations
I had already looked all across the world and believed that such an aircraft didn't exist. The closest I came was the fantastic Gweduck, but she was larger than I needed and beyond my budget. I looked into having it built as a one off but, frankly, it would be a scary exercise fraught with danger. My concern wasn't just knowing that it would be an enormous project, but as Donald Rumsfeld had once said, the biggest issue would be the unknown unknowns—the things I didn't even know I didn't know. That certainly was the case for much of the round-the-world flight.
I traveled to Oshkosh to conduct research. There was some hope on the diesel front with Superior working hard on the Gemini engine, but it still seems to be years away. I spoke to some aircraft engineers who pretty much scoffed at the idea. Then I stumbled across a very rugged-looking three-seat amphibian from Russia on display, looking like a more agricultural version of a Searey. Talking to the builder using a mixture of English, Russian, and gesticulation, and looking at a brochure, it seems they also have a twin-engine aircraft. They appear to take salt water seriously, and
while pretty rugged and simple, maybe it would be a step.
On returning to Australia I searched for any information I could. I learned that they are being built in the city of Samara, east of Moscow on the Volga River. It looks to be a hub for water flying, and specifically flying boats. Following ever-expanding YouTube links, I found three different companies building ail-composite amphibious planes in one town in Russia. I was intrigued, and keen to visit to discover them firsthand.
On receiving an invitation from the Royal Aero Club to an awards night in London, I knew I had the perfect opportunity: return home from London via Russia. Emails were exchanged, and Dmitry, from one of the manufacturers, would collect me at the airport. They had arranged for me to stay at the hotel right on the airfield where the planes are built. This was sounding both interesting and pretty serious.
I was met at the airport by Dmitry, the owner of one of the factories. He spoke limited English, but far better than I speak Russian. With him was Valentine, who spoke very good English and was an aeronautical engineer. On the way to the field he explained that Samara is the "home of flying boat design in all of Russia," proudly adding that it "also is home of Russian rocketry; we built rocket that took Yuri Gagarin into space."
As the explanations unfolded, I learned that Samara University has a
L44 cockpit (above) is a modern, spacious environment, as is the passenger cabin (below). The seats fold forward for easy cockpit entry and egress, and for carrying bulky cargo.
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