How to Land an RC Airplane on Water

Hello my name is Ryan. Welcome back to another video. Today we are going to be covering how to land an RC float plane or seaplane on the water. Let's get started. First thing we must do is get our airplane out there onto the water and in position. Position the plane into the wind. The plane will naturally want to weather vane into the wind. Once in position you will want to pull up on the elevator stick to provide full up elevator. Next step is to advance the throttle smoothly but relatively quickly to 100 percent. As the plane begins to jump out of the water you will begin to release some of the up elevator. When the floats are completely on step and planing on top of the water only a small amount of up elevator is required. Hold this position until the plane naturally flies off the water. You want to start your landing approach with a downwind leg. Here this will be from right to left. Next you will turn left onto the base leg of the approach. Lastly you will turn left for final approach. Although it is completely possible to land most brushless foam float planes and seaplanes off power, I highly recommend learning to land all powered RC airplanes under power. Allow the airplane to descend at its natural descent rate with minimal throttle settings. Once you are a few feet from the water use a combination of up elevator and throttle to decrease the descent rate to allow for a smooth landing. For the next two passes in this video the video will play without pause. This takeoff is an exaggerated case to demonstrate what happens if you do not release up elevator as you approach takeoff speeds. If your plane has enough power you will be able to pull out at this angle without problem. However if you do not have the power for a steep climb out simply feed some down elevator in to drop the nose for a climb out at a more reasonable angle. In the landing approach we apply the same sequence. Find the descent rate that works for you depending on how much distance you must cover until you touch the water. As you approach the water at less than a few feet apply a minimal amount of throttle while using up elevator to slow the descent rate and land the smoothly. You do not want to stall the airplane onto the water. Just keep in mind that not every landing is going to be consistent and perfect every time. Please like the video if you do and don't forget to hit that subscribe button so I can see you in that next video. Thank you for watching.