I flew on a seaplane sightseeing flight – and it made me queasy!

The big birthday. It’s the one where people tend to buy you something really cool. This was the case for my friend, who received vouchers for a seaplane flight from his husband. Knowing that I tend to like planes, he invited me along for the flight.

Loch Lomond Seaplanes operate the flights and that meant flying to Scotland and driving up to the loch. That was all quite pleasant, as it’s a lovely part of the world up there. I was glad the weather held, as we had organised it for an earlier date only to have it cancelled.

Our Seaplane

On arrival, we headed to the dock to check-in, as we were early and the plane was out on another flight. When it arrived, it turned out to be a Cessna Caravan. I’d been on one of these before, back when I visited Belize many years ago. Of course, that one had wheels, so not quite as exciting. Having missed the era of the Short C Class flying boats, this was the next best thing.

The safety demonstration was given before we walked onto the dock, and it was not much different to what you get when flying commercial. Shortly it was time to board and my friend and I were directed to be first on. That meant I sat right behind the pilot and my friend behind the co-pilots seat. As there was no other pilot, he had a very good view!

A Sightseeing Flight

We closed up and cast off, with our pilot announcing it would be a long taxi today. We headed out across the loch, and I was anticipating the take-off. Eventually we turned about and off we went, with spray flying up outside the windows. Quite thrilling!

It turns out that I can take about 15 minutes or so of flying in a small plane before I begin to feel queasy. The same thing happened when I went on three flights while doing my Masters degree. Those little planes move about a lot more than my inner ear likes. Happily we touched down at the end of the flight well before queasy became “going to be sick”.

Overall Thoughts

Scotland is a very beautiful country, and seeing it from the air offered an entirely new perspective. The entire flight was calm and safe, with the pilot occasionally giving us information as to where we were and what we were seeing out each side. While it was no Boeing 314 flying boat, I had a ball!

Everyone else seemed to have stomachs of iron and nobody else seemed the least bit bothered by the flight. It’s not like the plane was moving about that much, but my body really felt it for some reason. I could blame the drinks the previous night, however I know from experience I always feel unwell in little planes. 20 to 30 minutes is the most I’ve been in one and I’ve always been ready to land at about half an hour. Of course the aviation geek feels airsick in small planes. Of course!!

Have you ever been on a seaplane? Or even a sightseeing flight? What was it like? Any recommendations (preferably with jets? 😉 ) Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

Like planes? See my “Does anyone remember” series.
Flight reviews your thing? Mine are all indexed here.
Follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.