Water Flying

In this episode of SPA’s Water Flying podcast Steve sits down with Dr. Loel Fenwick to discuss “The World's Most Beautiful Amphibian”, which happens to be Loel’s own Grumman G-73 Mallard—or maybe both of Loel’s Mallards. Recorded while sitting under the wing of one of Loel's G-73s at his gorgeous Tanglefoot Seaplane Base on the shores of beautiful Priest Lake, Idaho, this podcast will take listeners on a journey of romance, history and adventure that few have had the gift of experiencing. Join us!

On this episode of the Water Flying podcast Steve is joined by Addison Pemberton to discuss his amazing N3N seaplane. This round-engine biplane is the only one of its kind flying on a single mono-float. The N3N was the primary seaplane trainer for the US Navy from 1936 until 1961. It is a rare example of a military aircraft that was designed and produced by the US government and not an industrial aircraft manufacturer such as Boeing and its Model 75 Stearman. Join Steve and Addison as they discuss the unusual construction and handling characteristics of the N3N.

Danny Seybert ,president of the Alaska Aviation Museum, joins Steve McCaughey on this episode of the Water Flying podcast to discuss growing up in a historic aviation family in Alaska in the 1970's. Danny's father Orin Seybert founded PenAir in 1955 which famously flew Grumman G-21 Gooses throughout the Aleutian Islands. The Alaska Aviation Museum has many great historic aircraft including a PBY, Grumman Goose, Grumman Widgeon, a Sikorsky S-43 cockpit section, Beech-19 on floats and a Waco YKC on floats among others. Visit the museums website at: https://alaskaairmuseum.org [https://alaskaairmuseum.org/]

On this episode Steve is in Sausalito, California with Aaron Singer of Aero Adventures [https://seaplane.com]. Commodore Center Seaplane Base, where Aero Adventures operates, dates back to the romance of the Pan Am Clipper Ships. The base has an amazing safety record and a colorful history as the location where Otis Redding wrote "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay," [https://youtu.be/rTVjnBo96Ug?si=bpB9WJ-ubkjrpuBv] and as a recording location for artists such as the Greatful Dead, Janis Joplin, Carlos Santana and Jefferson Airplane among many others. Today Aero Adventures has endured challenges by the local community. With SPA's help, it continues to offer flightseeing operations off of the mud (listen to the episode to learn more), where customers can fly over Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Bay and the amazingly beautiful Pacific Coast.

Join Amanda and Steve McCaughey for a discussion about both the Clear Lake Splash-In and the growing vision and opportunities for seaplanes at this Northern California secret gem. Clear Lake is the largest lake fully within the state of California, with over 100 miles of shoreline, and yet the region is sparsely populated and under visited. Of specific interest to seaplane pilots, the lake has 100 years of seaplane activity with everything from the Pan Am Clipper ships to the military using the lake as a primary location for PBY, PBM and Martin Mars training. Our thanks to Herb Lingl, the Skylark Resort, the city of Lakeport and all of the volunteers who made this event such a success. Join our team of Clear Lake Splash-In volunteers by emailing us at spa@seaplanes.org [spa@seaplanes.org]