On Sep 30, 7:06 pm, "Mike Kanze" wrote:
John Keeney,

I don't disagree with your conclusion, I just think your grasp of the water situation in the heartland is off.

Having lived several years in Cincinnati (on the Ohio River, upriver ~100 miles from Louisville) I have a better
grasp than you might think about this.

If your experince is limited to the Cincinnati area, I can certainly
understand it. The river is but a trickle of what you'll find behind
the McAlpin dam at Louisville.
The two cities are seaperated by a bit over 100 *air* miles but that
is one hell of a drainage.

There's not been a seaplane built that couldn't land and depart comfortably from the Ohio River at Louisville Ky.

There is no section of the Ohio River flowing past Louisville that is at all aligned with the prevailing winds (roughly
NW - SE) in that part of the U.S. Landing a heavily-laden flying boat in such conditions would not be advisable.

The pool behind the dam at Louisville is over a mile wide (within a
few miles, very much so) and can be sighted down from mid river for
over a half dozen miles. A very gentle bend gets you nearly twice that
many more.
Prevailing winds out on the water are within 10-20 degrees of straight
up that first stretch. This may be related to the Indiana bank being
high enough to shield it.

Like our land roadways, our riverine waterways are very congested with all manner of craft. Let's start with large,
multi-barge river tows, and along the way mention such frequent or recurring obstacles as bridges, locks and
dams, seasonal water level fluctuations, snags, and especially flotsam - not to mention the all-too-frequent
weekend drunk on his jetski, darting unpredictably about the channel.

You will recall I did not dispute your conclusion.
But large tolls rarely are within several miles of each other (the
time it takes to lock through at the dam prevents it). And bridges
over the Ohio cluster at major cities: three car & three railway
bridges at Louisville, the next closest bridge up-stream is about 35
miles away at Madison. Down-stream, call it 30 miles.
Dams, baa, how many dams do you think are between Louisville an
Cincinnati? I believe the correct number is 1.

Our major rivers either ice over regularly (upper Midwest) or can have ice floes during winter cold snaps at least
as far south as the Mississippi - Ohio junction. (I have personally seen folks walk, foolishly, across the Ohio
River on winter ice.)

I can remember one (1) year that there was ice on the river here
sufficent to tempt people to walk upon it. It is even considered
enough of a novelty for flow ice to be coming down stream big enough
to find to hop in the car to go get a look.

So reliable scheduling of commercial seaplane air cargo during part of the year is not an
option from Cairo, Illinois north and east. Thunderstorms, which occur at other times of the year, generate major
flotsam debris.

*A* storm has a trivial effect on the river here. To put flotsam in
the water you dump a lot of rain on the water shed up stream to raise
the river level. The river will then creast a few days later here
carring trash in.

River tows are impervious to all but the largest flotsam, and smaller craft can see and avoid. Not
so a seaplane that has just alighted.

I admit it would be a problem. One of the reasons I agreed with your
conclusion.

The very biggest reason sea planes won't make a come back is existing
airports support more efficent land planes. Ignoring some island out
in the ocean with insufficent land area for the airfield, there simply
is no justification for regular scheduled seaplane service.