Float Plane - Danger?!

[GTBRMC]

Question: My understanding is the Coast Guard has jurisdiction over only the Great Lakes, the Atantic and Pacific coasts, the Gulf of Mexico, and certain other designated waterways (US side of St Lawrence comes to mind)... so, do they have any real say in this particular incident? Local inland lakes are typically the responsibility of local law enforcement, no?

Which, of course, further complicates this one. Gut tells me that barking up the FAA's tree + direct contact with and feedback to the flight school is best bet to change behavior moving forward. Good luck!

 

[tracerrx]

What ive been able to learn so far is that

1. When on water, a plane is considered a vessel, and is governed exactly as we are, although there are several additional rules for them on giving way to other traffic
2. Float Planes are relatively light compared to boats
3. When a float plane is landing, as a boater your supposed to give way (even though you may not be able to see or hear him until its too late - i had 4 adults and 2 teens onboard and noone saw or heard him until he was 20-30 seconds from water)
4. There is no legal requirement for a float plane to first perform a fly by (although all the private pilots i have spoken too ensure me they would)
5. While most planes are equiped with VHF, they apparently arent capable of tuning marine VHF frequencies which seems to contradict USCG rules (see #1)
6. Its not easy to contact the USCG off water (had to resort to twitter), no links on thier website
7. Its easy to contact the FAA , but the hotline just directs you to website or email, so far no response
8. The guy/gal flying this particular plane was a jack$$$