Is it a boat or is it a plane? Seaplane veteran Capt. John Goulet talks about regulations, airspace, and key points for operating seaplanes in international locations.
Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Welcome to the second conference on the Future of Seaplanes and Amphibious Aviation. My name is John Goulet, and I have spent the last 50 years working in the seaplane industry. I’ve worked in 18 countries and set up and managed new seaplane operations in 10 countries, including Nigeria, South Africa, the Maldives, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
I understand why there would be questions about laws and regulations governing seaplanes, considering that seaplane operations are not mainstream in most ICAO member states. Once common in ports worldwide, seaplanes are now being reintroduced as a legitimate means of travel and an alternative to building more airports. To understand how seaplanes fit in, we must understand how ICAO works.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that establishes right-of-way regulations for aircraft in international airspace and sets guidelines for building and operating airports. ICAO sets international standards and regulations for aviation safety, security, efficiency, and environmental protection.
Each member of ICAO agrees to regulate aviation within parameters defined under the 19 Annexes and the Standards and Recommended Practices. This includes establishing Civil Aviation Authorities to integrate a set of regulations and activities aimed at improving safety. Each member state is responsible for establishing these regulations in its own way. For example, EUROCONTROL, the FAA, and Transport Canada have slightly different interpretations based on their political and geographic environments.
For all other countries, if seaplanes were not on their agenda, few, if any, CAAs would have established seaplane-specific guidelines or understood how to implement them. How do we fix that omission?
The International Maritime Organization (IMO), a specialized agency of the United Nations, establishes right-of-way regulations for ships at sea. The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, commonly known as COLREGs, set out the “rules of the road” or navigation rules that ships and other vessels must follow to prevent collisions.
To get started, let’s ask the question: Are seaplanes regulated as airplanes or boats when on the water?
Historically, aviation regulations were derived from marine regulations, which existed long before the Wright Brothers. In many cases, the intent of the rules is similar, especially when determining who has the right of way. Therefore, should seaplanes be regulated by ICAO when in the air and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) when on the water?
Most countries remain confused about how to best implement regulations for seaplane operations because they view aviation and marine regulations as distinct legal jurisdictions and do not know how to integrate them. Why?
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) sets the legal framework for the seas and oceans by defining the rights and obligations of States Parties by encouraging the peaceful use of the seas, regulating the use of marine resources, promoting the conservation of living resources, and preserving the marine environment.
To help clear up this confusion, I will share a few seaplane pilot “war” stories. Why war stories?
If you hired an astronaut and paid them $50,000 to make this presentation, guess what? He or she won’t talk so much about being an astronaut as they will tell you their war stories.
When you think about it, modern astronauts don’t do much. They sit in the rocket and shake and rattle, and when they get up there, they look out the window, take selfies, play the guitar, twiddle some dials, figure out how to strap themselves to the toilet and dream of the day they will become a TikTok sensation. So yeah, they talk about what they did as an F-15 fighter pilot in Iraq or how they became Top Gun – twice. Airline pilots will tell stories about when they were building hours and leading an exciting life as a seaplane pilot.
Whether you are a fighter pilot, an airline pilot, an astronaut, or a seaplane pilot, you better understand applicable laws, regulations, rules of engagement, and international territorial boundaries.
Now. You would think territories without regulations would be the best places to operate seaplanes. Imagine being able to land a seaplane wherever you wish.
Let’s explore that concept.
To survive as a fighter pilot in real-time combat, you must understand the limitations as well as the regulations. The aircraft limits. Your limits. Territorial limits. By understanding your limitations, you can better understand the boundaries determining whether you can engage. In most cases, you will get guidance from ground control, such as;
Do not engage. But I want to engage. I want to shoot that (bleep, bleep) out of the sky. No, you are not allowed. Darn.
The parameters governing seaplane operations are derived from laws, regulations, rules, standard operating procedures, training, and experience. These guidelines work together as collective common sense and provide essential direction for individuals, pilots, and entrepreneurs.
As a seaplane pilot, you must know the boundaries under which you operate, with or without guidance. I have set up, organized, and helped manage seaplane operations in ten countries. All those countries, after some negotiations, allowed me to land anywhere I deemed fit. And I did, in hundreds of water locations no one had ever landed at before. Without local regulations, how did I know what standards to follow or how to behave?
Here is the key principle to apply in any unregulated situation.
Laws are meant to protect people and property from harm.
Regulations are detailed directives enshrined in law to prevent you from doing something (omission) or to ensure that you do something (commission).
While laws set the foundational principles, regulations offer instructions. Regulations relate to how one should operate within given boundaries or jurisdictions, but they are susceptible to varying interpretations when applied across different countries, contexts, environments, or industries.
This is the difference. Laws are interpreted in a court of law, which is why you have lawyers. Regulations are interpreted (or misinterpreted) by regulators, which is why you have seaplane consultants.
So, when martial law declares it illegal to smuggle money or guns through Nigerian airports, you better listen. Believe me. You do not want to spend the rest of your life in that dingy jail cell with yellowing walls, no windows and a single dim lightbulb hanging on a frayed wire simply because some military dictator decided that his interpretation of martial law had more authority than yours.
So, to follow the letter of the law, I didn’t land at the airport. I landed deep in the jungle, on the river.
Have you ever heard the song, “Send lawyers, guns and money?” Yes, that was me.
Just to be clear, that was an example of what not to do.
It took my lawyer a week to get me out of that dingy cell.
