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A DeHavilland Single Otter floatplane in Harbour Air livery.

A seaplane is an aircraft designed to take off and land (correctly, though less commonly termed, "alight") upon water.

These aircraft are occasionally called hydroplanes, based on usage in several Romance languages, which is rare in English.

Types of seaplane

There are two types of seaplane: the float plane and the flying boat.

• A float plane has slender pontoons mounted under the fuselage. Two floats are common, but many float planes of World War II had a single float under the main fuselage and two small floats on the wings. Only the "floats" of a float plane normally come into contact with water. The fuselage remains above water. Some small land aircraft can be modified to become float planes.
• In a flying boat, the main source of buoyancy is the fuselage, which acts much like a ship's hull in the water. Most flying boats have small floats mounted on their wings to keep them stable.

This is a Grumman Goose in regular daily service in Alaska.

It should be noted that some people feel that the term "seaplane" should only be used to refer to aircraft with floats in place of landing gear, with a flying boat being a distinct type in its own right. For convenience, the above definitions and assumption that flying boats are a type of seaplane are used herein.

An amphibious aircraft can both take off and land on conventional runways and take off and land on water, whereas a true seaplane can only take off and land on water. There are amphibious flying boats and amphibious float planes, as well as some hybrid designs, e.g., a seaplane with retractable floats. However, most modern aircraft that are seaplanes that are made, are amphibious and of traditional design.

Seaplane uses and operation

Numerous modern civilian aircraft have a floatplane variant, usually for light duty transportation to lakes and other remote areas. Flying boats have remained in service for fire-fighting duties. Often an amphibious aircraft that can land on land as well as land on water has supplanted a pure water plane.

Seaplanes can only take off and land on water with little or no wave action and, like other aircraft, have trouble in extreme weather. The size of waves a given design can land depends on how big the aircraft is, and the specifics of its shape. Flying boat seaplanes can handle rougher water, and are generally more stable than the float planes on the water.

Some of the largest users of seaplanes are rescue organizations such as coast guards because the same aircraft can be used for spotting and rescuing survivors. Seaplanes are much more fuel-efficient than helicopters and, unlike helicopters, can land when they run out of fuel, weather permitting.

Seaplanes are often used in remote areas such as Alaska (which has the highest per capita number of floatplanes in the United States) and the Canadian outback, especially in areas with a large number of lakes convenient for takeoff and landing. They may operate on a charter basis, or provide scheduled service.

History of seaplanes

Early development was carried out at Hammondsport, New York by Glenn Curtiss who had beaten Alexander Graham Bell and others in the Aerial Experiment Association.

During World Wars I and II, many navies used seaplanes for reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare. Most battleships carried one or two catapult-launched seaplanes to spot targets over the horizon for the big guns, or to fight off enemy reconnaissance planes. The failure of the German battleship Bismarck's Arado 196 seaplane to hunt down a PBY Catalina reconnaissance aircraft is said to have contributed to the ship's demise.

One of Howard Hughes' best-known endeavors was the H-4 Hercules (nicknamed the "Flying Lumberyard" and, more famously, "Spruce Goose" — although its frame was built predominantly of birch), a massive flying boat completed just after the end of World War II. The Hercules only flew once (with Hughes at the controls) in 1947. The plane was originally commissioned by the U.S. government for use in World War II, but was not completed until after the War.

Today, seaplanes are mostly considered obsolete for military purposes; seaplane tenders, such as HMS Engadine, fell out of use after the 1950s with the general demise of the seaplane, the advent of the first stable, fully-controllable helicopter, and continued development of the modern aircraft carrier.

See also

• Amphibious aircraft
• Flying boat
• List of flying boats and seaplanes
• Auxiliary cruiser

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