<P> The term "seaplane" is used by some instead of "floatplane". This is the standard British usage . This article treats both flying boats and floatplanes as types of seaplane, in the US fashion . </P> <P> An amphibious aircraft can take off and land both on conventional runways and water . A true seaplane can only take off and land on water . There are amphibious flying boats and amphibious floatplanes, as well as some hybrid designs, e.g., floatplanes with retractable floats . </P> <P> Modern production seaplanes are most often light aircraft, amphibious, and of a floatplane design . </P> <P> The Frenchman Alphonse Pénaud filed the first patent for a flying machine with a boat hull and retractable landing gear in 1876, but Austrian Wilhelm Kress is credited with building the first seaplane, Drachenflieger, in 1898, although its two 30 hp Daimler engines were inadequate for take - off, and it later sank when one of its two floats collapsed . </P>

The floats on seaplanes and amphibians are normally made of