Have you ever thought how cool it would be to fly your own floatplane or flying boat?  Flying off water brings a whole new dimension to model flying and opens up the opportunity to fly a wide range of aircraft types from simple trainers with added floats to exotic multi-engined flying boats and Schneider Trophy racers.

And it’s not as difficult to get into as you might think.  Several popular ‘almost ready to fly’ trainer types such as the Hobyzone Super Cub and Carbon Cub have floats sets available that simply replace the standard undercarriage with just a few screws. This allows you to learn to fly the model on dry land before taking to the water and to re-fit the wheels at any time so you can fly the same model all year round, even if you don’t live near a suitable stretch of water.

If you want to give it a try but don’t know where to start, the British Waterplane Association should be your first port of call.  They can offer help and advice whatever your current experience and put you in touch with several specialist water plane clubs.  The BWA also organise a number of events at various picturesque lakes throughout the year at which spectators and non-members are welcome to come along and fly or just to see what goes on.

If you don’t already have a waterplane you’re bound to come away enthused to build one of your own.   And if you’re worried about seeing your pride and joy stranded in the lake there’s usually a safety boat on hand with an experienced operator to carry out the occasional inevitable retrieval!   Check out the BWA website at https://britishwaterplaneassociation.weebly.com/ for more information and videos of their recent events.