Hey Denny... or anyone....
 

I think I saw that denny worked for the FSDO? Inspector of some sort? I guess for anyone...

I was reading a different message board, and a guy asked about his son (licensed) flying his amphibious float plane. The plane would be flown land to land, and he was wondering if his son could fly it as a SEL aircraft. My impression was that once floats are installed, it goes from SEL to SES, regardless of amphibious capabilities. Just wondering because I am a SES pilot as well, with a lot of SEL friends.....

THX :confused:

You are right I work for the Oakland FSDO. I am a FED, but most of all a frined to aviator's. I will read up on your question and post a answer later.

Denny of Oakland

I beleive that as long as the aircraft is USED as SEL, ie no H2O TO/Landings, a SEL rated pilot can fly it.

Reference is John Lynch's FAQ from the AFS-840

QUESTION: What are the ratings needed to fly an amphibious airplane (Lake, Grumman Goose, etc.)? Does the PIC need both land and sea ratings, or can the pilot operate with only one of the ratings if operations are only to/from the surface on which the pilot is rated? I'd appreciate an "official" view. And we're not looking at ME vs. SE -- let's assume we're talking about a Lake Buccaneer and a pilot with only PVT-ASEL flying off land, or only PVT-ASES flying off water.

ANSWER: Reference § 61.31(d)(1). Only the appropriate rating (land/sea) is required. To operate an amphibious airplane for water operations using the float landing gear, one must hold the Airplane Single-engine Sea or Airplane Multiengine Sea rating, as appropriate. To operate an amphibious airplane for land operations using the wheeled landing gear, one must hold the Airplane Single-engine Land or Airplane Multiengine Land rating, as appropriate.

Yes, I see that reg. here it is:
(d) Aircraft category, class, and type ratings: Limitations on operating an aircraft as the pilot in command. To serve as the pilot in command of an aircraft, a person must --

(1) Hold the appropriate category, class, and type rating (if a class rating and type rating are required) for the aircraft to be flown;

But this says Category AND class. Once the floats are on it the POH refers to the supplement for seaplanes. My understanding is that it is now a seaplane and as such you would need a SES rating for that class.

No you don’t need both ratings. However, it would be advised to have both. The reason is some aircraft have both floats and wheels and the PIC only needs the rating for land when landing on hard surface. I checked FAR 61.57 Recent flight experience PIC and 61.31 again. If you only have floats installed you are only required by FAR to have the seaplane rating. Again both rating would be much better.

Denny