During a bright sunny day at this year’s SUN ‘n FUN, the people sheltered in the shade of the Seaplane Pilots Association (SPA) tent on Taxiway Echo all knew who owned the brightly-colored Seabee parked nearby.
Built in 1947, the Republic Seabee RC-3 (N713ET), is a four-place amphibious aircraft. A plush toy from the movie E.T. sat in the window.
“That belongs to E.T. He’s a party waiting for a place to happen,” Barb Bailey said.
Roger Olson nodded and smiled. “His name is Edgar Tello, but everyone calls him E.T. I first met him at Lake Como, Italy, on the Seaplane Pilots trip in 2016. We’re on the back deck looking out at the water and Ed showed up with beer, wine, and crackers and suddenly it’s happy hour.”
Edgar “E.T.” Tello was born in Puerto Rico and flew as a captain for United Airlines. He serves as the SPA Field Director for North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. He lives in Long Island Airpark in North Carolina with his wife Melissa.
“I took my first flight in a seaplane in a Quicksilver MX in 1990 in San Francisco and then years later a friend took me to Oshkosh where I saw a Seabee,” E.T. said. “I remember seeing James Bond fly a Seabee in the movie The Man with the Golden Gun. I was hooked. It was the coolest plane I’ve ever run into.”
“I bought one in ’96. It had a weak motor. I crashed it. Bought another one in Chuckey, Tennessee — spelled just like it sounds. It took three years to restore it completely from scratch. The whole time we are living in a mobile home.”
E.T. scrolled through photos on his cell phone. “The plane had at least two other owners. I changed the engine to the Lycoming IGO-480 and I added droop wingtips.”
When asked about the paint scheme, he smiled and mentioned how much he liked the Swiss Air paint scheme with the red tail. He chose bright colors so his plane would look “like a Lego toy. I wanted a big Lego toy. Melissa calls the plane a ‘magic flying carpet’ because it takes us to great places. We fill up the plane and go camping.”
“It is the most freedom in an airplane ever,” he continued. “With an amphibious aircraft, I can go anywhere. I can land on a friend’s lake and pull up on the back yard.”
The late great Rodger Moore few a Seabee in Man With A Golden Gun and beached it, then it got blown up by the bad guy’s “sun laser”. My husband, nick name “ET”, wanted one ever since. He calls ours, N713ET, the beast and his magic carpet. I jokingly call her the mistress. But we have used it like a much more fun family station wagon. Traveling multiple times in a big loop from Sun-n-fun air show up the coast to a Splash-in in the Adirondacks. Followed by my favorite leg seeing Niagra Falls and 1000 Islands, Cedar Point and Makinaw Island to Gaylord Mi’s splash-in, then Traverse City and drop off the boys in style at Lake Ann Baptist camp, Oshkosh and back through Dayton, Ohio and the Air Force museum, on to the Long Island Airpark on Lake Norman where we now live! And all along the way drawing attention with its unique shape and primary colors! Love the abundant options for landing particularly beaching it!
I like the Seabee
It was 1949. We were driving on a bridge across Lake Texhoma. A guy in a SeaBee had the front hatch open and was fishing. So cool..