John Weiss wrote:

Personally, I have yet to encounter a situation in my kayak where I needed
anything more than a whistle, though I have considered adding a signal
mirror
to attract the attention of landing seaplane pilots.


John,
With the perspective of a former airplane pilot, I will urge you to
be very careful if you choose to use a mirror to reflect the sun into
the eyes of a landing seaplane pilot. It is hard enough to see clearly
through a spinning propellor and have good judgement from altitude above
water *compared to* what you may be able to see (it is a different
perspective- you may be invisible to him in a glare or blend into the
background, etc). Things happen relatively quickly in an airplane when
something goes wrong at low altitudes, so blinding a pilot on his final
approach to landing is a prescription for getting not only yourself
killed if you are in his path, but almost assuredly also his passengers
and crew. Instead you should make sure you are that much more visible to
him so he can't miss seeing you.
Red

"Red" wrote...

Personally, I have yet to encounter a situation in my kayak where I needed
anything more than a whistle, though I have considered adding a signal mirror
to attract the attention of landing seaplane pilots.

With the perspective of a former airplane pilot, I will urge you to be very
careful if you choose to use a mirror to reflect the sun into the eyes of a
landing seaplane pilot. It is hard enough to see clearly through a spinning
propellor and have good judgement from altitude above water *compared to*
what you may be able to see (it is a different perspective- you may be
invisible to him in a glare or blend into the background, etc). Things happen
relatively quickly in an airplane when something goes wrong at low altitudes,
so blinding a pilot on his final approach to landing is a prescription for
getting not only yourself killed if you are in his path, but almost assuredly
also his passengers and crew. Instead you should make sure you are that much
more visible to him so he can't miss seeing you.

Thanks for your concern. From the perspective of a retired Naval Aviator and
active airline pilot (747 Captain), I am aware of the potential danger from
dazzling with a signal mirror. While keeping the signal on the airplane would
present a danger, a quick flash or 3 across it should not be a problem.

A kayaker can be only so visible... My PFD is bright yellow and my paddle
blades (which, if you've ever noticed, are the most visible part of a kayak
when they are moving) and broad-brim hat are white. If a pilot misses all that
in the background clutter, or is focused on a sailboat or jetski somewhere
else, there is little more I can do. I paddle frequently on Lake Washington
where there is an active seaplane base, and have to cross the landing area to
get to the Sammamish Slough. I have yet to have a problem with any of the
Kenmore Air pilots, but on occasion I wonder whether one of the transients
practicing water landings is keeping an adequate lookout...

Also, a kayak can only move about 5 kt max, and an airplane can come "around
the corner" and line up to land with very little warning. If I happen to be
crossing the landing area when he appears, I cannot easily move out of the way
if he doesn't adjust his landing path to avoid me.