Why are Flying Boats not Called Boatplanes?

"For Sweden" (rallybeetle)
12/13/2016 at 21:11 • Filed to: Modthoughts, Oppo After Dark, Qantas, Planelopnik, Seaplane, Floatplane, Boatplane, Flying Boat, Whimsy

DISCUSSION (36)

My citroen won't start > For Sweden
12/13/2016 at 21:14

Well, because they spend most of their active time in the air

TheHondaBro > For Sweden
12/13/2016 at 21:14

Why is pineapple pizza not called “shit?”

For Sweden > My citroen won't start
12/13/2016 at 21:14

Hence the “plane”

For Sweden > TheHondaBro
12/13/2016 at 21:14

Because it’s delicious

My citroen won't start > For Sweden
12/13/2016 at 21:15

They are called Seaplanes tho.

beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard > My citroen won't start
12/13/2016 at 21:16

aye to this. Hardly ever hear them called flying boats. Unless it’s an R33 Skyline.

TheHondaBro > For Sweden
12/13/2016 at 21:16

If I wanted a disgusting pizza and I wasn’t in the mood for pineapples, I’d go to Papa John’s.

jimz > For Sweden
12/13/2016 at 21:17

because that’s still an airplane, it just takes off from water. a “boatplane” is called a hydroplane:

Kinja'd!!!

Die-Trying > My citroen won't start
12/13/2016 at 21:18

what about all the time that they are “actively” floating?........

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > For Sweden
12/13/2016 at 21:18

Never heard them called flying boats. They’re called seaplanes.

My citroen won't start > Die-Trying
12/13/2016 at 21:19

That’s how seaplanes sleep, they are not active when floating.

MonkeePuzzle > For Sweden
12/13/2016 at 21:21

because they were named by Fantasy Island’s Tattoo, who,, upong SEEing a plane, exclaimed “see plane! see plane!”

MonkeePuzzle > TheHondaBro
12/13/2016 at 21:21

i can taste the indigestion from here!

Die-Trying > My citroen won't start
12/13/2016 at 21:26

they are MOST active when just floating. if they wasnt, they would be sinking.

Kinja'd!!!

in the air they are hyper-active......

For Sweden > MonkeePuzzle
12/13/2016 at 21:27

That must be why they call it Royal International Air Tattoo

MonkeePuzzle > For Sweden
12/13/2016 at 21:38

i had forgotten this connection, but some quick googling confirms you are correct, as always. #facts

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
12/13/2016 at 21:38

It’s a very old term, dating back to the early days of aviation. Wikipedia does however have a separate page for each name, with the distinction being that “flying boats” are a subset of “seaplanes” that were designed primarily to land on water, in contrast to “float planes” which are a subset of “seaplanes” that were designed for use on airstrips but have been fitted with floats to allow them to land on water.

Viggen > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
12/13/2016 at 21:42

Sea plane is the generic term. Flying boats refer to aircraft who’s fuselage is what provides the buoyancy.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > My citroen won't start
12/13/2016 at 21:43

Flying boats are a subset of seaplanes. A seaplane is any aircraft that can land on water, but a “flying boat” is one that was designed specifically to land on water, in contrast to a “float plane” that was designed to land on land (do you call it watering if you’re landing on water?) but outfitted to land on water.

Chasaboo > TheHondaBro
12/13/2016 at 21:44

Or New York.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > For Sweden
12/13/2016 at 21:52

I’m certainly not an expert, but I would say that because they’re called flying boats because they mostly did the job of boats, starting and finishing the trip like any other boat (I.e sitting on the water), and carrying large amounts of cargo, but also could fly and make the task much quicker. According to Wikipedia (yes, I’m now an expert! :/) they were really popular because there wasn’t always an adequate location on land for a large cargo-carrying aircraft to take off, but once infrastructure was in place for land-based aircraft they stopped being as popular. So in my mind, as I said before, when they were pretty much boats that happened to fly they got called flying boats, because regular airplanes weren’t as popular yet.

I think the real questions you should now be asking yourself are “why aren’t cargo planes called “flying trucks”?”, and “why aren’t passenger airplanes called “flying busses”?”.