Amphibians on the UK Register

[LowNSlow]

I see that the PFA has two amphibs on the approved aircraft list; the Anderson Kingfisher and the Periera Osprey of which there are only two of each on the UK Register. Only one of the four (an Osprey) appears to be current according to G-INFO. Does anybody know anything about these aircraft in terms of performance etc.?

[gasax]

Also PFA is the Volmer.

The Kingfishers and Volmers are pretty margin in therms of water performance - their power to weight ratios are poor and 2 up will struggle to get off the water.

The Osprey is more sprightly but reputedly is tricky on water - high lift off and landing speeds and little freeboard. Compared with a decent float installation there are too many compromises.

The certified Teal is somewhat better on the water but is very heavy and so again the performance is nothing to write home about.

I had a reasonably good look around a couple of these aircraft and eventually decided floats were a better choice.

Although if someone could get the CZAW Mermaid through the PFA then there might be a real light amphibian option - having seen them at the factory I was really impressed.....

[LowNSlow]

Hi gasax, do y know if the CH 701 been cleared for floats in the UK?

[gasax]

As far as I'm aware no. Give me a year or so and I'll be trying to do it with the 601, got all the bits just need to get them all bolted, riveted etc together - we'll see!

[LowNSlow]

I didn't realise there was a float option for the 601. Checking out the website, the 801 on floats looks interesting.

[gasax]

Yep the 801 does look very interesting unfortunately its approval is unlikely due to a spat between Chris the man and Francis - the other man!

The details were related to the rear spar if I recall but it ended up with Chris Heintz doing a John Monnett and basically saying 'stuff the PFA' we can sell loads of these elsewhere without having to re-design them. So putting an 801 on floats would represent several challenges......

[irish seaplane]

I suggest a chap to Steve Powell in EGAB with reference to the small flying boat(s) mentioned. Steve runs the Amphibious Flying Club and as a seaplane instructor is first class. He has some experience in with one of the types mentioned.

For what it's worth, I fly 150hours a year in Ireland on straight floats. All I can say regarding a potential seaplane purchase is look at what works in Canada and AK. I've flown a Grumman Goose here in IRL with the man I consider the guru of waterflying.... 16,000 hours on the water - no accidents. There are places on this big blue and green planet where people hold water flying as a religion and seek to learn from their experience.

When you mix aeroplanes and water - Its very easy to have an expensive and embarrasing mistake.....Somethin akin to a good episode of "The Last of the Summer Wine" would be a common occurance!!

[LowNSlow]

gasax Good luck with the 601. It's a shame about the 801.I appreciate that the PFA is trying to keep our skies as safe as possible. However, when a well respected designer like Big Chris designs an aircraft that is flying successfully in countries all around the world one would think that this would be taken into account by the British authorities.
irish seaplane thanks for the tips. All my flying experience has been landplanes with the last 8 years exclusively on taildraggers of various kinds. Water operations will certainly be a different world.

[Kiltie]

gasax have you any idea what happened to Volmer G-BAHP? I remember it sitting in the water at Dornoch in 1979 having been ditched with the wheels down by the dentist.

[gasax]

One of the two Volmers (not sure of the reg) is at Aboyne under intermittent rebuild. However when it was flying (which is a long time ago) it was pretty sluggish one up off grass, there are a fair number of mods in the States to try and improve performance off the water - especially 2 up.........

[Bluebeard777]

What do you folks think of the Searey?

[gasax]

It has reasonable performance, although a slightly checkered accident history - mostly relared to the undercarriage and it being a taildragger.

I did some initial investigations, there has been some structural verification work done to get it accepted in Australia, however the factory were completely indifferent to helping with UK acceptance and so it looks like it would be pretty expensive......

Elsewhere with the 914 and the lighter options it does look like a reasonable alternative. Having said that it has a wide shallow hull so it will be pretty sensitive to water conditions - flat clam and nothing much more I suspect. But anything small is fairly sensitive so I would not think this is especially limiting.