Piper with Floats?

FloridaPilot

FloridaPilot

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It was in the AOPA newsletter today. I never seen a piper on floats in my life. Normally I see Cessna's on floats or any other high wing airplane.


Has anyone flown a piper with floats? Or any airplane low wing with floats? How does the Cessna with floats compare?


As always thanks for your input!


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FloridaPilot said:
It was in the AOPA newsletter today. I never seen a piper on floats in my life. Normally I see Cessna's on floats or any other high wing airplane.


Has anyone flown a piper with floats? Or any airplane low wing with floats? How does the Cessna with floats compare?


As always thanks for your input!


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I flew an Aztec on floats, the Cherokee, and I think Cherokee 6 go on floats as well.

The issue with Pipers on floats is docking in dynamic conditions, you can't just pop open your door and step out on the float with the dock lines as the plane drifts the last few feet into the dock. If you have a passenger in the right seat, you either need to beach it or drive up to a dock with a dock hand to handle your lines for you. Same goes for any low wing or single door plane.
 
I flew this one...1969....the very first Aztec ever on floats.

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They made a PA28S-160 and PA28S-180, a Cherokee 160 and 180 on floats. IIRC, there were maybe a total of about a half dozen Cherokee seaplanes ever built and most later got converted back to regular landing gear with wheels. There was actually one of the original PA28S-180 sold on Barnstormers a few years ago. It went pretty cheap.
 
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Neal Howard said:
They made a PA28S-160 and PA28S-180, a Cherokee 160 and 180 on floats. IIRC, there were maybe a total of about a half dozen Cherokee seaplanes ever built and all later got converted to regular landing gear with wheels.
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If you want a Cherokee on floats though, I think EDO has a kit that meets (is) the one on the Type Certificate, so no STC required.
 
Henning said:
If you want a Cherokee on floats though, I think EDO has a kit that meets (is) the one on the Type Certificate, so no STC required.
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Yep, but who would want one, except for the novelty. As mentioned earlier, a real pain to dock a low wing floatplane.

There was an RV7 on amphib floats at Oshkosh a few years ago too. I spoke with the builder of it and he did it for the novelty too, IIRC it was also converted back to wheels.
 
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Neal Howard said:
Yep, but who would want one, except for the novelty. As mentioned earlier, a real pain to dock a low wing floatplane.

There was an RV7 on amphib floats at Oshkosh a few years ago too. I spoke with the builder of it and he did it for the novelty too, it was also converted back to conventional wheels.
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Yeah, I said the same thing. I wouldn't want one after having flown the Aztec. Now the Beech 18 was low wing, but it's worth the extra hassle.:D
 
Not to mention beech 18s and even two or three DC3s one of which recently was retired in Maine I think. I saw the DC3.on amphibs at sun and fun some years back. Amazing to see. Many many super Cubs, maules , cessna 180s , etc. In Canada. Used to ride in a 180 in georgian bay getting out to the camp. ( see georgian bay airlines)
 
Even some RVs on floats.
 
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Jack Murdoch, co-founder of Tektronix, built the first Aztec "Nomad." There is a company in Canada who has the STC and several dozen have been built.

One of the mods is a pilot's side door.

Jack also had the Cherokee 180C demonstrator for a while, as he owned Melridge Aviation......the Piper distributor for the West coast.

My avatar picture is photographed at the site where he perished, on the Columbia River below the Maryhill Museum.
 
Karl, what was it like to step turn a low wing floatplane? That would be odd.

I'd have zero interest in a low winger on floats or skis. Being able to see the surface and the floats is something I wouldn't want to give up.
 
you mean a Six? :D
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Neal Howard said:
Plenty of Cubs/Supercubs on floats in Alaska. Fairly common up there.
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Yeah, I know. My "one or two" was a bit of tongue-in-cheek commentary. Along with Cubs and Super Cubs; Tri-Pacers, Cruisers and Super Cruisers have been put on floats. So Pipers on floats is not a new concept at all.

I'm not a float plane expert by any means though. I just got my ASES in July 2014 and then did some recurrent this past summer. All in a Citabria. It is perhaps my favorite flying experience.
 
Floats on low wings with a single door for egress are problematic. As others mentioned, docking is an issue as the wing doesn't clear the dock as high, its harder to step out onto the float for line handling, the float is hard to see from inside the cabin, and in the event that the aircraft flips on landing, getting out is a challenge. There's a reason you don't see low wing aircraft on floats.
 
Brad Z said:
Floats on low wings with a single door for egress are problematic. As others mentioned, docking is an issue as the wing doesn't clear the dock as high, its harder to step out onto the float for line handling, the float is hard to see from inside the cabin, and in the event that the aircraft flips on landing, getting out is a challenge. There's a reason you don't see low wing aircraft on floats.
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As for only one door the J3 has only one the C-206 with flaps down if it flips the flaps block the back door, only the pilots door to exit. Low wing, lake aircraft or SeaBee with the floats out on the wing do not get along with docks. Plenty of Cessna aircraft with dents in the leading edges of their wings and tail from docks. Every aircraft on the water has some limitation, trick is knowing what you have and how to use it.
 
Henning said:
The issue with Pipers on floats is docking in dynamic conditions, you can't just pop open your door and step out on the float with the dock lines as the plane drifts the last few feet into the dock. If you have a passenger in the right seat, you either need to beach it or drive up to a dock with a dock hand to handle your lines for you. Same goes for any low wing or single door plane.
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Sounds awfully handicapped
 
high wing single door is simple on floats. we add a walk wire between the bow cleats on the floats. In fact we do it on two door planes, too, so the pilot can deal with docking and beaching.
 
Here's a Comanche. I think this was an EDO STC as well. Looks good, practicality not so much...
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I did my ASES in a cub on floats! Still technically a piper

....did someone say low wing on Floats? There's a DC-3 on floats out there!...I'm on my phone so can't post the picture but you'll see it with a quick google search
 
I guess what you really meant to say was you've never seen a low wing Piper on floats. Otherwise your question sounds kind of stupid.
 
kgruber said:
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Jack Murdoch, co-founder of Tektronix, built the first Aztec "Nomad." There is a company in Canada who has the STC and several dozen have been built.

One of the mods is a pilot's side door.

Jack also had the Cherokee 180C demonstrator for a while, as he owned Melridge Aviation......the Piper distributor for the West coast.

My avatar picture is photographed at the site where he perished, on the Columbia River below the Maryhill Museum.
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That's really interesting, is it a mandatory mod?
 
So I take it these PA28s, 24s, etc weren't factory float planes and didn't have the full on, inside out factory assembly corrosion treatment? Plus docking a single door or even a dual door low wing, meh, seems like making something into a floatplane for the sake of making it into a floatplane.

When it comes to Pipers on floats I'll stick to the Cubs and other traditional stuff, there's a reason why it's stuck vs float fitted Cherokees.
 
James331 said:
So I take it these PA28s, 24s, etc weren't factory float planes and didn't have the full on, inside out factory assembly corrosion treatment? Plus docking a single door or even a dual door low wing, meh, seems like making something into a floatplane for the sake of making it into a floatplane.

When it comes to Pipers on floats I'll stick to the Cubs and other traditional stuff, there's a reason why it's stuck vs float fitted Cherokees.
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Yeah that seems like a one-off 'to see if we can' kind of mod more than anything people would want. "We'll show those Cessna dicks!" :lol:
 
James331 said:
So I take it these PA28s, 24s, etc weren't factory float planes and didn't have the full on, inside out factory assembly corrosion treatment?
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The PA-28S-160, PA-28S-180 and PA-32S-300 were indeed factory-built as seaplanes. There were only a handful of each, though, probably less than a dozen altogether. PA-23 and PA-24, no, those were aftermarket mods.
 

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Pilawt said:
The PA-28S-160, PA-28S-180 and PA-32S-300 were indeed factory-built as seaplanes. There were only a handful of each, though, probably less than a dozen altogether. PA-23 and PA-24, no, those were aftermarket mods.
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It's like the sales & marketing team back then were drunk idiots lol.
 
The Aztec on floats just might make sense. How many twin float planes that size existed?
 
bnt83 said:
It's like the sales & marketing team back then were drunk idiots lol.
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Or just pilots with a factory that would build anything they asked and no sensible boss to tell them they can't.:lol:
 
There is a Cherokee on eBay with a float kit. A little Google and I landed here. I would post the link but not at 5 posts yet.
 
It's a full size Cherokee 180. It is sitting on wheels but advertised with a float kit.
 
1965 Cherokee 180. Constant speed prop, Float Kit and Robertson STOL.
 
I think I saw a Bellanca Viking on floats at OSH this year. It was taking off at a considerable distance from me, so I couldn't see it very well, but definitely low wing single engine.
 
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