Seaplane Rating — ASES Ground School
intermediate 40 lessons ~16h total 70 practice questions 10 units Certificate on completion
Master the water and earn your Airplane Single-Engine Sea rating with confidence.
About this course
Flying off the water is one of the most rewarding things a pilot can learn, but it demands a new vocabulary and an entirely new set of judgment skills. A seaplane is part airplane and part boat, and the moment the floats touch the surface you become the captain of a vessel governed by Navigation Rules as well as the FARs. This course builds the ground knowledge you need to train efficiently and pass the ASES practical test on the first attempt. We start with how floats and flying-boat hulls actually generate hydrodynamic lift, why the **step** matters, and how water creates drag the airplane never feels on a runway. From there we move through reading the water surface — glassy, rough, and swell conditions — and the dramatically different takeoff and landing techniques each demands. You will learn step taxiing, plow and idle taxi, the art of **sailing** a powerless seaplane downwind, and how to dock, beach, ramp, and moor without damaging the aircraft or yourself. Throughout, the course emphasizes the safety culture that keeps floatplane pilots alive: avoiding **porpoising** and skipping, respecting glassy-water depth illusions, knowing the maritime right-of-way rules, and understanding the regulations unique to seaplane operation. Each lesson is paired with key takeaways, and the course finishes with a 25-question final exam plus a large practice bank modeled on FAA knowledge-test style questions.
What you'll learn
Explain how floats and flying-boat hulls produce hydrodynamic lift and how the step reduces water drag
Read glassy, rough, and swell water conditions and select the correct takeoff and landing technique for each
Perform and describe step taxi, plow taxi, idle taxi, and sailing maneuvers for confined-water handling
Safely dock, beach, ramp, moor, and anchor a seaplane while managing wind and current
Recognize, prevent, and recover from porpoising and skipping on takeoff and landing
Apply maritime right-of-way (Navigation Rules) and the FARs that govern seaplane operations
CR
Your instructor
Captain Ray Lindholm
ATP · CFI · CFII · MEI · AGI · IGI
ATP and Gold Seal CFI with over 7,000 hours, including 1,200 hours on floats across Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, and the Florida lakes. He has trained dozens of pilots to their ASES rating and flown everything from Cubs on floats to turbine Otters.
Summary
Skill level
Intermediate
Lessons
40
Duration
7h 13m
Practice bank
70 questions
Certification
Yes
Language
English