How does a plane take off or land on water if it has wheels?

I just watched an episode of "Miami Vice" with my unlce. I think it was called "Trust Fund Pirates" about a pilot that the cops get to help them catch some smugglers that were killing people. There was a pilot that landed his private plane on the water and took off from the water, but his plne had wheels. My uncle said this would be impossible to do. Is that true? Or is there some way that he could actually do that?|||It is impossible to land on the water with wheels. But most of the seaplanes are "amphibians", they can be landed on both water and land. And they have landing gears that are inside the pontoons, and they're retractable. So if they land on water, they have to retract the wheels so that the wheels will not touch the water and flip over.|||floats that contain wheels


continuity prob in show showed wrong plane|||It could have been a mistake on the part of the TV show. But some planes have both wheels and floats. I think the wheels are retractable; they go into the floats. If you land on water, you don't have to drop the wheels.





With a float plane, you have to have retractable fins to steer with in the water for takeoff. Line the plane up in the water so that you are taking off into the wind. But when you are landing, retract the fins, otherwise they will get torn off!|||Yes, it can be done if the aircraft is properly equippped.





Aside of the great photos of the Lake Amphibia already posted, here are float planes that have wheels inside their pontoons so they can land on water or terra firma:





http://www.airliners.net/open.file/04099鈥?/a>


http://www.airliners.net/open.file/02915鈥?/a>





There is a float plane at my local airport and, yes, it sure does look odd landing on a runway! Talk about a high flare.....|||No, there is no way a plane with just wheels could land on or take off from water, unless it's very shallow, like a beach.





A seaplane has wheels, but they are embedded in pontoons, which keep the plane afloat.|||There are amphibious aircraft. These have wheels for operation on land and also floats or a sealed hull for operation on water.|||An amphibian plane has a set of retractable wheels, which enables it to take off and land on both land and water.|||The airplane can land on water or land. There are airplanes that have wheels that load up inside the plane so it can land on the water, and then the wheels can come out to land on land.|||Not very specific...were they pontoons with built in retractable wheels. Did the plane have retractable landing gear....some planes are made to land belly down in the water....but if it was a fixed landing gear system....the hydrodynamics would almost make it impossible to do...a little plane only needs to go about 80 knots flaps up or 60 knots, flaps down....but its the stability that would be messed up. I would say NO. not possible|||alot of times the floats on floater planes have small wheels that fit in them. this allows for taking off or landing in both water and on land.|||Some planes have pontoons and wheels so they can land on water and land. Also, some people install pontoons on their planes so they can land on water and the wheels stay on, probably this was the case.|||Uh, yeah. He's right. It is impossible. There are only certain planes that can take off and land from water. That's why passenger planes come with rafts and life vests.|||simple. you have a 2 part question. 1. can a plane land on water that has wheels? YES. it's called a crash landing.So....hang tight.


2. Can a plane takeoff from water with wheels? YES. if they are pertruding slightly out of a pontoon.


3. if it has no pontoons? you have no takeoff.