New LSA Amphib introduced at AirVenture

CT4ME

CT4ME

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CT4ME
At this point, a paper airplane, but it looks interesting. Icon in their gunsights.
 
It'll sell to the public before Icon.
 
Its a joke. Cloth covered wings? Wants to be a bass fishing boat? Me-too with Icon? Folds up like a picnic table, why? $190k and not even dual 10 inch glass?

Pure nonsense.
 
Nifty, I'll have to check that out. I've got a couple yacht owners who have deposits on the Icon, this would likely suit them better for an onboard airplane.
 
CTLSi said:
Its a joke. Cloth covered wings? Wants to be a bass fishing boat? Me-too with Icon? Folds up like a picnic table, why? $190k and not even dual 10 inch glass?

Pure nonsense.
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Maybe. Sells the dream, how is Searey doing? Seems like a better Searey, whether it can be built and people will pay the difference who knows. I'm sure it is more fun then a go somewhere GA airplane, of course the problem with these things isn't just price. You need money and time, two things almost no one has at the same time.
 
Another "give us a deposit and we'll never build you a plane" company.
 
Saw that today; looks ridiculous(ly cool) in person. Need to ask if it comes with an optional trolling motor and fishfinder :)
 
ClimbnSink said:
the problem with these things isn't just price. You need money and time, two things almost no one has at the same time.
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money, time: mutually exclusive. The plane is designed for goofing off by a person who is a workaholic.
 
Well, an "airplane" can take to the air. I mean, the act is in the name so unless it's got off the ground and sustained it's own mass by some lift, right now it's not an "airplane" but a collection of formed parts. If it has flown, I guess the owners of the company would have a real video of flight, or anything more telling than a mock-up. They are 6 years behind Icon, and Icon just announced another delivery push a few months back.

In the IT industry, we would call it vaporware.
 
Probably pushed out so they could get more s̶u̶c̶k̶e̶r̶s̶ valued customers deposits.
 
I'd love to see it work, but this one really has "vaporware" written all over it.

Bear in mind how long its taken Icon to get its A5 ready, and even Cirrus with its jet.

As far as building and certifying a new aircraft, from "A League Of Their Own"...

"It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard... is what makes it great."
 
CTLSi said:
Its a joke. Cloth covered wings?
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Never seen fabric-covered airplanes? Some still in production, too. Much easier to repair than composites or aluminum, and modern fabrics and finishes are tough and last a long time.

The Aviat Husky is a current-production fabric-covered airplane that doesn't have glass and costs $200K or so. This is the world of aviation, after all. Expensive.

Dan
 
Dan Thomas said:
Never seen fabric-covered airplanes? Some still in production, too. Much easier to repair than composites or aluminum, and modern fabrics and finishes are tough and last a long time.

The Aviat Husky is a current-production fabric-covered airplane that doesn't have glass and costs $200K or so. This is the world of aviation, after all. Expensive.

Dan
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Not the point,this is a $190,000 buck airplane. Ill take my wings made from solid material at that price, thanks...
 
CTLSi said:
Not the point,this is a $190,000 buck airplane. Ill take my wings made from solid material at that price, thanks...
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price a super-cub clone recently ? put it on amphib floats and how's the price compare ?

of course, the difference between the cub on floats and this thing, is that the cub actually does the things shown in the video without computer animation
 
When I asked how long it would take to build, they said, "1 month". When I asked how many hours, they said "1,000". So, not one month!
It will however have a 20lb thrust bilge pump that doubles as a trolling motor.
 
Another smoke and mirrors aircraft. Way to many moving parts. Easley them with bull ---- . Other than that great presentation.
 
Stick with Searey for now. Its not vaporware. It flies very nicely given that its an amphibian aircraft. It is real with real deliveries. I know because I helped them get compliant, pass FAA audit and in 2013 setup the production line in Tavares under contract, all in less than 2 years of total work and did first 5 of their deliveries.
I am not sure what Icon is doing, they are way overdue and the gentleman who is heading this MVP venture I believe was the manager at Searey till 2011. They parted for reasons I don't know and don't care much about. All I can tell you is that Searey is real, its here, it flies well and its properly tested and priced right and its assembly line has/had qualified A&P over-seeing it with lots of decades of experience. I am not there now. My contract is over but this much I can vouch for.
Yes its fabric wings because anything else won't make the weight.
Searey takes 650 hours to make in production and probably would take 1000 hours to assemble as kit at home possibly more. It can hold 6 G's in its sleep. Held ultimate negative loads for 45 minutes before snapping.
 
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Does the Searey have a folding wing? What I like about the Avid Catalina is it stores and transports in a trailer so you can tow it behind an RV or load it on the deck of a boat.
 
CTLSi said:
Its a joke. Cloth covered wings? Wants to be a bass fishing boat? Me-too with Icon? Folds up like a picnic table, why? $190k and not even dual 10 inch glass?

Pure nonsense.
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You don't know much about floats, or backcountry planes do you?

For one fabric is totally fine.

Two, glass isn't manadatory, heck its a waste of space unless you're flying a lot of IMC, and then without a full coupled 2 axis autopilot with vnav, WAAS and ILS, glas is a waste too.

For that price just get a super decalathlon amphib, or better yet a PA18.

The older rag wing taildraggers are going to make better float planes.
 
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As for why folding wings on the Icon? It's because a large number of the orders are from yacht owners who want it as a tender/toy onboard, and you have to be able to fold the wings for that.
 
James331 said:
For one fabric is totally fine.
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The ownder of the company essentially built an airplane for his own tastes. He had several small (LSA) floatplanes that he used to travel up and down Missisippi, camping at the shores. He learned that damage resistance and ease of repair was essential on those trips. That is why he chose fabric. Same goes for the hull on that airplane, supposedly it can take a collision with a submerged stump or mooring post, if slow (of course you better not clip one of those when taking off).

Same goes for the folding wings. Apparently they have docks at the river where they'd let you in for the night like a motel. Strange but could be true.
 
zaitcev said:
The ownder of the company essentially built an airplane for his own tastes. He had several small (LSA) floatplanes that he used to travel up and down Missisippi, camping at the shores. He learned that damage resistance and ease of repair was essential on those trips. That is why he chose fabric. Same goes for the hull on that airplane, supposedly it can take a collision with a submerged stump or mooring post, if slow (of course you better not clip one of those when taking off).

Same goes for the folding wings. Apparently they have docks at the river where they'd let you in for the night like a motel. Strange but could be true.
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All makes perfect sense, especially the folding wings, a necessity in my opinion.
 
Henning said:
Does the Searey have a folding wing? What I like about the Avid Catalina is it stores and transports in a trailer so you can tow it behind an RV or load it on the deck of a boat.
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Well Searey had a video demo of folding wings on their website about a year ago. I don't know where they're at with it but it looked pretty promising to me.
 
I'm holding out for Mr. Rutans "Ski-Gull" . It will have folding wings and two small engines. I chuckle because I think he's found out just how hard it is to design a decent flying boat but I really am eager to see what he comes up with.
 
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