A group of seaplane pilots is asking federal authorities to allow them to land on Lake Lanier.
The Lanier Seaplane Pilots Association is petitioning the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to allow their aircraft to land in the lake northeast of Atlanta.
Pilot Troy Wheeler tells The Times of Gainesville that he and others who fly seaplanes are responsible pilots want to use the lake for recreation, just as boaters do.
The Gainesville newspaper reports that many of the seaplanes can land on water or land. After landing on water, the planes can pull up to a dock or travel up boat ramps.
The pilots group started the formal process last year with the Corps of Engineers, flying to district offices in Mobile, Ala. The Corps is requiring the group of pilots to conduct an environmental assessment if they want to continue pursuing the permit.
"This would require them to look at several alternatives — locations throughout the lake that could meet their needs but generally lack civil infrastructure, such as bridges and transmission lines," said Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Pat Robbins. After the assessment, the corps would publish a public notice and allow 45 days for public review of the proposal.
Executive Director of the Lake Lanier Association Joanna Cloud said her group isn't opposed to the proposed seaplane landings assuming that the pilots follow regulations that are currently in place at Allatoona Lake. Those rules call for planes to take off and land at least 500 feet from the shore and other structural obstacles.
