stratobee
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stratobee
I just got latest issue of Water Flying magazine and there's an in-depth look at the Gweduck in there. I'd read about the Gweduck before, but now it's in its final stages and will soon be offered as a kit. It triggered my amphibian urges again and I'm now totally smitten with this thing.
It's a composite twin amphibian with lots of cool features, but obviously based loosely on the venerable Widgeon. But it's actually a completely new design. And since it's completely composite, it can be landed in salt water as much as you like. Every metal that's exposed (like hinges, wheel rims, gear assembly) and that can corrode on it is made out of stainless steel. The rest is all composite. It's got spray channels in front hull (like the Japanese Shin Meiwa flying boats have) to stop spray from eroding on prop blades. It has retractable tip floats. Fully reversible props so you can back out of docks. But extra excitingly - it comes with over 200gal standard fuel tanks, which is good for about 10hrs of flying. But check this out - as an option you can get 320gal long range tanks which means you can go direct from San Francisco to Hawaii or St.Johns to Dublin!! This triggers the little explorer within me and gets me very excited. It's not very fast at 140kts, but then again most amphibians aren't. I'd be willing to give some speed up for that utility. Only drawback is it's powered by Lycoming IO-540's that need Avgas. Be nice if they could find some diesel solution or Mogas solution down the road.
All composite, so can land in salt water all day long.
It even heels for easy docking by having a 7 gal ballast tip tank in each wing.
I used to be obsessed with Piaggio Royal Gulls (P136's) a couple of years ago. I was actively looking for one and I spoke to pretty much every owner on the US register either via mail or in real life. Bummed a ride in John Mohr's N40022 up in Michigan a couple of years ago and it did nothing to quench my thirst. He had a project one he wanted to sell me, but it was just a little too much money for what it was. Then I found one stored in Texas that had been damaged by a storm and flipped on its back. I flew down to take a look at it. The guy said it was an easy fix, but he was delusional (a common trait amongst pilot/owners, I've found). It would have been more than $500K to fix it and it was badly crushed. Then a guy just around the corner was selling Ernest K Gann's old Gull (N160EG) at Van Nuys. It was in pretty good shape, but I just didn't have the money he wanted at the time. Bummer, it's now been sold. Then there was a mint one in top shape at Long Beach, but he wanted some ungodly amount for it that I could not even begin to afford. Today I keep in contact with John Mohr and through him I get some patchy news from the Gull world, but I'm not as immersed as I used to be.
Here's a Piaggio Royal Gull in the Thames just by the Tower in the mid 50's (imagine doing that today)...
Be interesting to see where they price the Gweduck kit, but all I can say is that I'd love to have one one day. This satisfies almost all the needs in an amphibian for me - twin, long range, can splash in salt water. Imagine splashing down in the Caribbean and just pulling up on a beach, landing on some mountain lake somewhere or dropping in to Lake Como. How exciting!
One can dream, right?
It's a composite twin amphibian with lots of cool features, but obviously based loosely on the venerable Widgeon. But it's actually a completely new design. And since it's completely composite, it can be landed in salt water as much as you like. Every metal that's exposed (like hinges, wheel rims, gear assembly) and that can corrode on it is made out of stainless steel. The rest is all composite. It's got spray channels in front hull (like the Japanese Shin Meiwa flying boats have) to stop spray from eroding on prop blades. It has retractable tip floats. Fully reversible props so you can back out of docks. But extra excitingly - it comes with over 200gal standard fuel tanks, which is good for about 10hrs of flying. But check this out - as an option you can get 320gal long range tanks which means you can go direct from San Francisco to Hawaii or St.Johns to Dublin!! This triggers the little explorer within me and gets me very excited. It's not very fast at 140kts, but then again most amphibians aren't. I'd be willing to give some speed up for that utility. Only drawback is it's powered by Lycoming IO-540's that need Avgas. Be nice if they could find some diesel solution or Mogas solution down the road.
All composite, so can land in salt water all day long.
It even heels for easy docking by having a 7 gal ballast tip tank in each wing.
I used to be obsessed with Piaggio Royal Gulls (P136's) a couple of years ago. I was actively looking for one and I spoke to pretty much every owner on the US register either via mail or in real life. Bummed a ride in John Mohr's N40022 up in Michigan a couple of years ago and it did nothing to quench my thirst. He had a project one he wanted to sell me, but it was just a little too much money for what it was. Then I found one stored in Texas that had been damaged by a storm and flipped on its back. I flew down to take a look at it. The guy said it was an easy fix, but he was delusional (a common trait amongst pilot/owners, I've found). It would have been more than $500K to fix it and it was badly crushed. Then a guy just around the corner was selling Ernest K Gann's old Gull (N160EG) at Van Nuys. It was in pretty good shape, but I just didn't have the money he wanted at the time. Bummer, it's now been sold. Then there was a mint one in top shape at Long Beach, but he wanted some ungodly amount for it that I could not even begin to afford. Today I keep in contact with John Mohr and through him I get some patchy news from the Gull world, but I'm not as immersed as I used to be.
Here's a Piaggio Royal Gull in the Thames just by the Tower in the mid 50's (imagine doing that today)...
Be interesting to see where they price the Gweduck kit, but all I can say is that I'd love to have one one day. This satisfies almost all the needs in an amphibian for me - twin, long range, can splash in salt water. Imagine splashing down in the Caribbean and just pulling up on a beach, landing on some mountain lake somewhere or dropping in to Lake Como. How exciting!
One can dream, right?
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