Lake owners reunite for fun in the sun

The 27th Annual Lake Aircraft Safety Seminar and Fly-in, held in late February, attracted owners and enthusiasts from
throughout the U.S. and several foreign countries. Sponsored by the Lake Amphibian Flyers Club, the event was located, appropriately
enough, in Lakeland, Florida. Since Lake production ended about 10 years ago and most of the fleet is now 30
or more years old, flying and maintaining an aging and out-of-production airplane tends to draw owners together. And with
winter blizzards raging up north, the event attracted 145 people and about 45 planes to the sunny south.
An additional draw was that two of the best known Lake maintenance facilities are in central Florida near Lakeland. Very
few shops specialize in the 180- and 200- horsepower Lake Buccaneers and the 250-
horsepower Lake Renegades. Lakes are not known for cross-country speed, so many attendees traveled by airline
to the event, which was conveniently located between Tampa and Orlando. However, Gary Silver and Russell Ence
of Farmington, Utah, near Salt Lake City, flew over 16 hours each way to attend the fly-in. Another Lake pilot from the Northwest
laughed and said he “took about a month” to get there. Lake owners are a friendly bunch and many of the attendees have been members
of the club for years, so the fly-in had the feel of a big family reunion, with hand shakes and hugs all around.
And, like most pilot get-togethers, the best place to meet and greet one another was at the bar of the Lakeland Hilton Garden Inn, the event’s headquarters hotel located adjacent to the airport terminal.
Founded in 1988 by Bill and Louise Goddard, the 2015 edition of the annual “Lakeathon” was organized by Marc and
Jill Rodstein, who took over the club in 2000. Following this year’s event, the Rodsteins handed leadership of the club over
to Bill Schmalz, who has been attending since 1990. The club has around 500 members worldwide
and Schmalz says his number one priority is to keep the group going. However, of concern is that the average Lake owner is aging … just like the fleet of planes.
Schmalz keeps a Renegade in the back yard of his waterfront home in Winter Haven, Florida, and is also the Florida field
director for the Seaplane Pilots Association (SPA) and coordinator of this year’s SUN ’n FUN Seabird Fly-in at Fantasy of
Flight. With interesting seminars each morning and opportunities to fly each afternoon, the four-day Lakeathon was an ideal opportunity
for owners to learn about their unique flying boats and to explore the numerous lakes in the area. Those with open seats gave rides to pilots
who did not bring planes and several instructors were available for recurrent training. Due to its pusher configuration,
type-specific instruction is recommended to safely fly a Lake, even if you already have a seaplane rating.
Seaplanes have always been expensive to insure because, unlike an airport, water landings are not in a controlled environment.
To address this challenge, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Insurance
Services, which has about a fourth of the 408 Lakes on the U.S. registry under its wing, insures new owners to solo only after
25 flight hours with one of its approved Lake-specific instructors. After that, annual recurrency training consisting of four flight
hours and two hours of ground instruction is required to retain coverage.
Since this program has reduced the number of Lake Aircraft accidents and made insurance more affordable, it is currently
being adopted by instructors and insurers specializing in the Searey amphibian, a
Light-Sport flying boat with a pusher configuration similar to Lakes. Jim Campbell, an aircraft broker doing
business as The Lake Connection, has specialized in Lakes for many years. He sells between six and 10 of the unique
planes each year and reports that prices have firmed and are going up. However, a disturbing market trend is the number of
Lakes being exported, with a half-dozen.