I find it really interesting to see such discussion about what is one of the most understood methods of carrying freight in Bush operations.
Before we were lucky enough to have big brother wipe our as.es before every flight we learned it was quite safe to carry external loads on float equipped airplanes.
If you were to go to Alaska or Northern Canada and ask these questions you would soon realize that we have been carrying external loads for decades.
The trick is knowing how and where to attach the load.
For instance how can cause trouble. I once tied an 18 foot aluminum boat to the spreader bars of a Beech 18 on floats with the boat upside down and the pointed end foward. Damn near killed myself when it got airborne. Turned the boat around blunt end first and no problem it flew quite nice.
I have hundreds of hours flying everything from canoes , boats lumber, refrigator's and God knows what else on everything from Cessna 180/85's Norsemans, Beavers, Beech 18's and even carried external loads on the PBY.
Hey it ain't rocket science and it ain't all that difficult as long as you know what to do and what not to do.
But then again big brother needs something to do so why not regulate something that we have been doing safely for decades.
Cat Driver: