In reply to ABC.
Otters only need the short nose when on CAP floats, it was a certification thing and is retro fitable to all 100/200/300 aircraft I do not know if it will be available for the 400.
Wipline 13000's either straight or amphib can be on either the long or short nose. I found the short nose to be better for on the water ops especially when docking nose in in confined areas.
Either way the nose locker was unreachable in normal ops as the side loader was simply too far from the front of the float to reach, this in turn did make some rather interesting aft c of g issues. Which if they have taken all the clockwork out of the front office will only be even more restricting on the 400.
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