All seaplane pilots are aware of the hazards of glassy water landings and takeoffs. With no ripples to serve as a guide, it is truly impossible to judge one's height above the water. Time and again, pilots have taken off, only to fly back into a surface they can't see. Faced with a glassy water takeoff, pros take care to maintain a positive rate of climb. Some, while landing, have leveled off 50 feet above the surface, thinking they were about to touch, then stalled into the water in a nose-dropping crash. Still others, believing they are plenty high, fail to raise the nose in time and suddenly find themselves stunned and struggling inside a flooding, inverted airplane.
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