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Lifting the Ban on Seaplanes

The Colorado Seaplane Initiative is an all-volunteer non-profit advocacy organization. We strive to gain fair and equal access, to bring potential community benefits to reality, and discover the adventures that abound on the public waters of the State of Colorado. Your desperately needed donation will help us in our efforts to bring this vital resource to the People of Colorado.

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Community Involvement

Firefighting
The seaplane is a natural firefighter.  It has the ability to scoop up hundreds of gallons of water in seconds, then fly, at speed, to a fire location, dropping that water with pin-point accuracy.  The FireBoss has the capability of repeatedly attacking a wildfire holding it at bay until ground forces can respond.  It is those first few minutes that determines just how devastating the fire will be.  The seaplane can make the difference between a bit of smoke or lives and property laid to waste.
Humanitarian
There are huge portions of the earth’s surface inaccessible by any other means, such as in Papua New Guinea and the Amazon jungles of South America.  In these remote locations, it is a matter of life and death to get medical assistance.  Traveling even short distances on foot would take days.  Time that some people do not have.  The seaplane is that lifeline.  Traveling over impenetrable landscapes, the seaplane transports the critically ill/injured to the needed facilities in a matter of minutes.
Environment Protection
Our environment is both robust and fragile.  The renewing power of the environment scrubs our air and water.  It feeds us and provides materials to shelter us.  It also has a violent side, harmful effects with huge hurricanes, powerful tornadoes, widespread flooding, and devastating fires.  To understand and to help develop techniques to protect the beneficial aspects of our environment we must be able to examine it in intimate detail without disturbing or contaminating those factors that we are studying.  The seaplane does this with great efficiency.  The seaplane can deliver scientists to the most remote areas of our planet to take samples and/or deploy instruments.   And as the seaplane leaves the area, no footprints, no tire tracks, no contamination, just a slight ripple is all that remains.
Air Taxi
The very first scheduled airline was via seaplane.  The flight was from Saint Petersburg to Tampa Florida.  Before this service, travel was by train, looping around Tampa Bay.  It covered a distance of about 35 miles, taking 8 to 10 hours.  As the crow (and seaplane) flies that distance is 9 miles, reducing the time to 20 minutes.   In the Seychelles, the Bahamas, the Maldives, the Pacific Northwest, and many other regions the seaplane is the preferred method of travel.  The lack of dry land and the abundance of water makes it the only reasonable and economic choice.
Educational & Training
The seaplane opens doors for those of all ages to new prospects and opportunities. A pilot’s world is a continually changing matrix of techniques, technology, and textbooks. Each pilot must be a constant active student. The pilot’s knowledge, skills, and proficiency are constantly being tested and reviewed to ensure they are equipped with the necessary tools to operate safely and accurately. Many pilots seek the seaplane rating as a way to fulfill this educational requirement in an enjoyable and perspective-broadening adventure. LET’S GET OUR FEET WET!

Seaplane Advocacy

Dreams were realized, but there is so much more to go!! 

Previously I had written in this section about my dream of The Colorado Seaplane Initiative and how it was so clear that seaplane access should be allowed here in Colorado.  We have made great strides from that first day by establishing two charted seaplane bases in Colorado (the first ever), planning and managing several splash-in events (the first ever), establishing an invasive species inspection and decontamination program for seaplanes (the first), and becoming the first ever pilot to receive all the training and obtaining certification totally within the State of Colorado (yep, you heard it right, the first). 

Despite these successes, our battle rages on.  The State is still adamantly opposed and so we are continuing the fight.  There is no level of problem that imagination and creativity cannot overcome. And so, we must continue to be the first with solutions.  We must demonstrate by example the strength and resolve of an idea whose time has come!

Seaplane Pilots Associations

The Seaplane Pilots Association’s primary focus is to promote safe seaplane operations and to protect our privilege to share our nation’s waterways with our recreational, governmental and commercial operators.

Colorado Pilots Associations

A Colorado Nonprofit Corporation in 1972. A statewide organization dedicated to making Colorado a better, safer, and more desirable place to fly, and to be of assistance to the general public in aviation matters.

Contact Us

Ray Hawkins

Ray Hawkins, Director

ray@soaringhawk.com

303-710-2497

For more information, please fill out the form below. Our team will respond within 5 business days, excluding weekends and holidays.

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Vision Statement

Use imagination and creativity to secure and protect the Colorado Water-flying community’s fair and equal access to public waterways.

Colorado Seaplane Initiative