I got my float rating on Lake Washington, and we used Sammamish as the prime
training area. I should think you'll see a ton of floatplane traffic
popping back and forth between the two big lakes and Union. Most of this
traffic is at lower altitudes, and it's all VFR. It also moves slowly and
is easy to spot -- probably more easily seen than the average helicopter.

Almost all floatplanes are high-wingers, either Cessnas or Cubs or Beavers.
If you see one descending toward a lake, be sure that the pilot is staring
at the water surface and not looking for you: he or she is looking at boats,
at wave patterns, and for logs, waterfowl and especially for jet skis.

On Lake Washington, be alert for plenty of floatplanes near Kenmore at the
north end and near Wiley Post at the south end. These guys have their own
patterns that depend entirely on wind direction and on their oddball taxi
routes across the water surface, but there are some standard arrival routes.
If you fly into neighboring airports, especially Renton, ask a local about
them.

Union is where most of the scheduled and air taxi floatplane traffic lives,
mostly Twin Otters and Beavers.

Seth


"Fred Choate" wrote in message
...
Hey folks......

Being a low time pilot (65 TT), I have a question about float operations,
and I suppose it may carry over to land planes as well.

Anyway, yesterday I took a fellow up on a scenic flight around Seattle.
What a perfect day for it too.....I never realized how pretty urban areas
are from the air. They seem so peaceful from altitude...LOL. Anyway, as
I flew from west to east north of Seattle, I was monitoring 122.9, and
made a few blind calls as to my altitude and location as Kenmore air has a
lot of float traffic coming in and out of Seattle. My plan was to fly
east to Lake Sammamish, and then turn south and head on back down to
Puyallup. As I neared Lake Sammamish, I heard a call that an aircraft was
departing Sammamish........I looked at my chart, and saw no airport, or
anything there indicating any airfield at the Lake, and thought that maybe
I didn't hear the call correctly. A few moments later, I heard the call
that "float plane XXXX is leaving the water eastbound, Sammamish". I
looked down at the lake, and sure enough, there was a floater climbing
out. I was at 2000 ft, so no issue, and I had made a blind call about 3
minutes earlier announcing my position, altitude, and direction of flight,
but I guess I didn't think that there would be traffic landing or
departing the lake.

I guess my point is, is that I learned something yesterday. It didn't
occur to me that there could be float traffic over or around many of the
lakes in our area, and to listen a bit closer to the radio. After seeing
the plane below me, it occurred to me that the aircraft had called his
intentions, and asked for any traffic any the vicinity to let him know,
but when he called out "Sammamish" and I looked at the chart and didn't
see any airport or seaport identification at Sammamish, I guessed I was
hearing communication from a more distant airport, and it didn't click.

It is important to know the names of lakes you are flying over or around,
as well as small towns that may have fields that pilots may use for
landing strips, even if they are not shown on the chart. I kind of felt
that maybe the pilot of the float plane should have said a bit more to
clarify what he was doing. That maybe something that they do there all
the time, but not flying that area very often, I wasn't aware of the
"local calls" that might be made for it, so it confused me slightly.

Anybody else ever had a similar experience?

Fred C.