IN PRAISE OF AMPHIBIOUS FLOATS

摘要

I once completed a marathon journey in an amphibious Piper PA-18 Super Cub that stretched from Key West, Florida, to Bangor, Maine, and then on to Minnesota. The 2,000-nautical-mile trip involved relatively few water landings using the airplane's Wipline 2100 amphibious floats, but I was glad to have them because they allowed for a far more interesting and scenic route flown in smoother air. Leaving the Florida Keys, AOPA Director of Photography Chris Rose and I skimmed the waves all the way to the Everglades, then overflew Lake Okeechobee at low altitude on our way to the Atlantic. Seeing dolphins, seabirds, schools of fish, sail and power boats, and lobster traps wouldn't have been nearly so much fun from thousands of feet above. We avoided headwinds and bumps by staying low as we followed the beaches and marshlands up the Georgia and South Carolina coasts.