Silly question about small seaplanes

There was a guy in the states who was re-engining Grumman Widgeons with PT6 turbo props, for use in the Carib. Only twin seaplane to take off on one engine, but started in a huge arc until the rudder could keep it straight.
DW
 
prv said:
Because flying is almost exactly the opposite of sailing, in regulatory terms.

............
You cannot fly within 500 feet (in any direction) of a person, vehicle or structure, so you could probably manage to land on a flat-calm sea (how often does that happen?) but not on more sheltered water.

.........

Pete
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Except when landing or taking off. ( section 3 rule 6 (ii) Any aircraft shall be exempt from the 500 feet rule when landing and taking off in accordance with normal aviation practice or air-taxiing. ) and take off and landing from a section of smooth water is pretty normal practice! :)
 
Sounds encouraging!

I'm surprised retractable floats, or any design enabling floats to come within the plane's slipstream, haven't allowed small float-planes better performance and range. A question of weight and cost, I s'pose.
 
Went on one in New Zealand the day after I got engaged on Doubtful Sound and we flew over the spot (Campbells Cove) - I loved it but my now wife thought it was a bit bumpy and claustrophobic to be enjoyable!
 
William_H said:
A sea plane is a plane with fuselage under body shaped like a speed boat. They usually have floats on wing tips. They may have retractable under carriage for landing or coming up a ramp from the water.
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I enjoyed watching thos elderly fellows up the road in Perth putting a lovely Catalina into a resting place in their museum some years ago.

Not everyone can find a Catalina within easy reach to admire.:D:D
 
I suppose the splendid ostentation of those big pre-war flying boats, is the reason I began the thread.

I'm mystified, if arrival by an elegant plane that floats, and which can deliver plutocratic passengers to any perfect beach, anywhere, doesn't appeal to today's rich as it did in the 'thirties. Like a yacht, but without requiring the long travel time.

Hard to believe that technology which made Sunderlands and Catalinas uneconomic then, can't be updated affordably for today.
 
Originally Posted by William_H
A sea plane is a plane with fuselage under body shaped like a speed boat. They usually have floats on wing tips. They may have retractable under carriage for landing or coming up a ramp from the water.
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I seem to remember my Boy's Own Annual defined things like Sunderlands as "Flying Boats" and things like Schneider Trophy winners as "Sea Planes". Can't remember "Float Plane" being used so probably some colonial term.
 
awol said:
I seem to remember my Boy's Own Annual defined things like Sunderlands as "Flying Boats" and things like Schneider Trophy winners as "Sea Planes". Can't remember "Float Plane" being used so probably some colonial term.
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+1

"Float plane" sounds American to me.

Pete
 
dancrane said:
Hard to believe that technology which made Sunderlands and Catalinas uneconomic then, can't be updated affordably for today.
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From what's been said elsewhere salt water and aircraft are not a happy mix, corrosion wise, and are slow and draggy. Plus, hard to park. That makes it sound like an idea that has come, and now gone, for very good reasons.
 
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Twister_Ken said:
From what's been said elsewhere salt water and aircraft are not a happy mix, corrosion wise
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Indeed. Years ago my dad was involved in trials of letting Commando types drive their RIBs directly into Chinooks. They put an inflatable dam across the front end of the cabin to keep the water out of the flight controls and electrics, and a net slightly aft of it to catch the boats as they skidded to a halt on their sides in the cabin.

They would then land on the water, with the rotors still turning for balance (engines and gearboxes are on top, so it would all roll over otherwise) and lower the ramp into the water, flooding much of the cabin. A pair of RIBs, presumably racing away from something blowing up on shore, or similar Hollywood antics, would drive straight at the ramp at max chat, with the outboard leg being kicked up as it hit the deck and the whole thing skidding up the floor and crashing into the net. As soon as the pilot felt the second impact he'd heave up the collective and lift off, pouring the water out the back before closing the ramp.

They tested this on a lake (Hawley Lake at the Royal Engineers base, I think) and obviously gave the helicopter a very good clean afterwards. My dad said that if they ever needed to do it for real on salt water, the aircraft would be grounded immediately afterwards for a thorough dismantling and decontamination, and kept on a special inspection regime for ever after.

Pete
 
Mr Wright, as an abso-bloomin'-lutely obsessive, pedantic proofreader, I'm nervously insecure about whether it was MY spelling of 'separate' that you applaud, or an instance of my error, corrected by Seajet. Could you clarify? I can't eat till then...:(:(
 
prv said:
+1

"Float plane" sounds American to me.

Pete
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It is North American, likely Canadian in origin, since float planes like the Norseman and Beaver were born here.

Here's how it works, semantically, IMO:
A flying boat lands on its hull.
A seaplane lands on pontoons, or floats.
A float plane is a sea plane used primarily inland- it would be silly to call it a "lake plane," wouldn't it?
 
What? So a float-plane doesn't have floats? Oh! No, I see. Sorry. What are those float-appended microlites known as, in Canada?
 
They are known as organ-donor generators.

Inland is not the same as ON land. One can land inland in a floatplane, or a float plane, or a float-plane but cannot land on land in a float plane, unless it has wheels in which case it is more accurately referred to as an amphibian.
 
Canada?

Does...not...compute...inland not land...lakes not ponds...wheels within floats...boats with wings...Americans with odd accents...
 
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