Never landed floats on grass but ice works fine. Landed skis on gravel and that worked out better then I thought it would.

Hi,

check this out - starting from a trailer:


Nice landing on grass:


Cheers,

Oliver

Our chief pilot landed this Otter with the wheels up on this runway, Bettles AK, We picked it up with fork lifts and put the gear down. No obvious damage to floats....

DonC wrote:Our chief pilot landed this Otter with the wheels up on this runway [...]

Still better than landing on the water with the wheels down.
In Germany two people recently died because of this mishap:

This is a drag we did years ago, pic is a scan of a print..
We did a Super Cub also but I cant seem to find that one....

Brian.

I got assigned to one of the first sets of a particular brand of amphibious floats on a new 206 in 86. That manufacturer hadn't yet figured out the retraction, and more specifically the extension mechanism for those floats. In the first six months I landed that airplane with gear in transit on one of the runways (never used the main runway so wouldn't block traffic) three times in the first six months, till they figured the gear out.

At one point, I came around the corner headed for the airport, called the tower to report inbound, and the response was "Nxxxx, Tower, continue inbound, and I'll roll the green trucks for ya". Always a comedian around.

They finally did figure out that gear, but what a PITA till then.

Float flying is fun, but as Gump says, it can be a LOT of work, such as when you land in a "lake" that appears fine, but is actually just a bowl of jello, and you are instantly stuck in the middle of something you can't wade in or taxi in.....

MTV

Ok, so when you pull it from grass using a rope, the loop over the ball is big enough, that when the plane is airborn, the rope slips over the ball, hanging to the cleat on the float? Seems like it might be safer than the trailer thing, just clear the trees by a great enough distance the rope does not get hung. I wonder if my insurance company would approve? Keith, why don't you try it out, I will come with my camera and give encouragement. Steve

departure:

Trailer purpose built.



recovery:

Notice he slid to a stop right in front of the Red pickup that he launched from. Perfect.

steve wrote:Ok, so when you pull it from grass using a rope, the loop over the ball is big enough, that when the plane is airborn, the rope slips over the ball, hanging to the cleat on the float? Seems like it might be safer than the trailer thing, just clear the trees by a great enough distance the rope does not get hung. I wonder if my insurance company would approve? Keith, why don't you try it out, I will come with my camera and give encouragement. Steve

We always made sure the loop that was over the aft facing knob of the bow cleat was too small to fit over the entire cleat, and was on the outside of the float. It's best to lose the rope from the aircraft rather than the pickup. We did this dozens of times and never had any near mishaps at all... when we had to use a dolly, it was a mishap every time the plane came off the dolly! I've been under them in a pickup/trailer and even an "aligator" once.....but the pulling with a rope always seems to go smooth, so that's my prefered method by far!
JH

It seems like instead of using the trailer method, you could build some float "cups" that accept the v-hull shape of the float, that have wheels on them. They allow you to roll around and takeoff, and once you rotate, they just fall away because nothing holds them on. You only get one chance at it.

The trailer takeoff is really no big deal. We have been doing it at Calaveras Co. Airport for years. Every time we got a straight float conversion the only way is off the trailer to the pond. Several successful trailer takeoffs from this same dolly. No blocks, ropes, smashed lights, etc. There is a simple carpeted metal stop plate welded to the trailer that the front spreader bar pushes against. Once you are ready to fly, ease back and you lift off. The carpeted bumpstop will hold the plane at full power with the truck. Take a look at the Apache on its very first flight on floats. You can see bumpstop in the beginning pics. Simple.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcplWR4Y2QA