When passengers climb into Gavin Hassett's de Havilland Beaver float plane, many don't realize they're flying with an Olympic medal-winning rower.

"I started flying when I was 15, in the air cadets," grinned Hassett yesterday. "I got my commercial licence in 2000."

Hassett, 35, won a silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games and went on to compete in both Sydney and Athens.

He says that when he retired in 2004, after placing fifth in the lightweight coxless-four event, it wasn't difficult making the transition from athlete to civilian.

"For me it was easy because I always wanted to do this," he said. "The challenge was to put it off as long as I did."

He said his experience on the water as a rower is a definite advantage as a float-plane pilot.

"I have spent tens of thousands of hours on the water as a rower," he said. "You have to be able to read the water and understand the wind and, obviously, these are also keys in flying float planes."

He started this week in his new job, behind the controls on Saltspring Air's new run between Pat Bay and Vancouver's Coal Harbour.

These days, the closest he comes to a rowing shell is when he sees paddlers going through their paces off the Vancouver Rowing Club.

Hassett logs an average of 700 to 900 flying hours a year but says he's never had a float plane break down and had to paddle it ashore.

"But I always have a paddle strapped to the float, just in case," he laughed.

dinwood@theprovince.com