Best True 2 Place Amphib Planes

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pit2atx

Filing Flight Plan
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pit2atx
I just discovered that a friend of a friend of mine flies a Searey Amphib and has been having a blast in the Central Texas highland lake district. I did a little research on Searey and they seem like they'd be a blast to fly. IMO, the Searey is more of a boat that can fly vs a plane that can land on water which I would prefer the latter.

The first (obvious) thing I've learned in the process is that floats quickly chew up useful load! What are some true 2 place planes when factoring the additional weight of floats? One interesting aircraft is the Zenith series 701 / 750 / 801.
 
pit2atx said:
I just discovered that a friend of a friend of mine flies a Searey Amphib and has been having a blast in the Central Texas highland lake district. I did a little research on Searey and they seem like they'd be a blast to fly. IMO, the Searey is more of a boat that can fly vs a plane that can land on water which I would prefer the latter.

The first (obvious) thing I've learned in the process is that floats quickly chew up useful load! What are some true 2 place planes when factoring the additional weight of floats? One interesting aircraft is the Zenith series 701 / 750 / 801.
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There is no such single thing as true two place as we don't know how big the two are, and how much fuel they wish to carry! But the answer is Cessna 180 series on amphibs.
 
pit2atx said:
Searey Amphib
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They're cool planes..

I'm sure you'll get a lot of Cessna X "on floats" answers.. but to me that's not in the same genre as what a Searey type plane might get you. One is a fun "modern" tooling around plane the other is a veritable beast. Also, simply putting floats on a plane always seemed like an afterthought to me and they look ungainly on the ground.. there's something alluring about a plane that is designed from the outset as being a true water capable plane

My favorite amphibious.. this is a great list here: https://www.planeandpilotmag.com/article/5-seaplane-alternatives/#.Xp9Zh4hKjRY

Also.. if you want something much bigger and capable, and different: http://www.seabearaircraft.com/gallery/ for a time they were making a 6 seat version.. though their site now just has one 4 seat version
 
Tantalum said:
They're cool planes..

I'm sure you'll get a lot of Cessna X "on floats" answers.. but to me that's not in the same genre as what a Searey type plane might get you. One is a fun "modern" tooling around plane the other is a veritable beast. Also, simply putting floats on a plane always seemed like an afterthought to me and they look ungainly on the ground.. there's something alluring about a plane that is designed from the outset as being a true water capable plane
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Yes, I agree with this. I'm searching for something that would be exclusively for pure fun flying with the ability of enjoying it with another person. That's usually >90% of my flying anyway. Based on a previous post, I've made the decision to join a club that has a 182 for "utility" flying.
 
I've flown the Searey and the Seamax.
Both are fun.
I prefer the Seamax. Cleaner, faster, handles better, 600 lbs useful load vs 490 for the Searey.
 
Lake Amphibian?
Taylor Coot?
 
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