GAINESVILLE - Could amphibious float airplanes soon become a common sight on Lake Lanier? One of the pilots participating in Saturday's Cracker Fly In at Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport in Gainesville is working toward that very goal.
Paul Kyst of Jefferson is a full-time commercial pilot and also owns Wing-N-It-Adventures, offering sight-seeing flights from most of the reservoirs in north Georgia except Lakes Lanier and Hartwell, where U.S. Army Corps of Engineer regulations prohibit him from doing so.
Kyst says he is currently petitioning the Corps to change its policy regarding float planes on Lanier.
Kyst says his presentation to Corp officials is simple. "It's a recreational vehicle no different than a boat. We follow U.S. Coast Guard rules when we are on the water...when it's on the water just like any other boat we have to carry life vests just like a boat does, we have to carry fire extinguishers just like a boat does. There is no difference between us and them (boats)."
"And we are safer," he continued. "We have to be licensed (current Georgia law does not require across the board licensing of recreational boat operators), we can't drink when we fly."
When asked about the operational logistics involved in landing and taking-off from the lake Kyst responded, " When we land...we can see everything on the lake, and we only land where it's safe and we only land where it's clear."
His company aircraft is an A185F Cessna Skywagon and is powered with a single 550-cubic-inch 300 horsepower engine.
Take-offs are a bit more situational in their demands Kyst explained. Wind direction is one factor (airplanes take-off most easliy headed into the wind) as is the 5,000-feet of open water needed to make typical weight-and-balance take-offs. Choppy water, Kyst said, actually helps, reducing that distance requirement as the chop decreases the drag component a calm surface would create on the aircraft's pontoons.
"Glassy water does not help; we don't want it smooth. We like boats making waves," he said with a chuckle.
Kyst added one point he felt was important. "We don't have an environmental (impact) on the lake. Our engine never touches the water. We don't pollute, we don't spill fuel...we don't add bilge."
He is not the only pilot interested in getting the regulations changed, and there is even a website devoted to float planes and Lake Lanier.
(AccessWDUN's Ken Stanford contributed to this story.)
http://accesswdun.com/article/2016/7/421080/jefferson-pilot-wants-to-be-able-to-use-his-float-plane-on-lake-lanier