Great news!!

Wow that prop is close to the ground!

Really cool modifications there!

With 600x6 nose wheel and tire, strut inflated to 3 inches, 600x6 mains, it has 12 1/2 inches clearance.

Do you know the fuel burn?

Looking good!

Idle is 14Gph, Low alt Loiter 20gph, 170mph indicated 35gph at 9.5k msl. These are at light weights, I need better weather, Transponder test to go higher.

Short video of one of the takeoffs.

What is the headliner material in that bird?
And congrats on your persistence.... cool to see it fly.

Whoa... That thing really hauls! Very cool.

After a couple of days of shake down flights (32degf, 600ft msl) I have determined that this thing needs a lot of weight in it or floats hanging off of it to slow it down. So Grossed out, 100 deg day, High altitude, doors off with spoiler or a set of amphibious floats would take advantage of the excess power. What forums can I go to get the best info 206s with floats?

Skydive
So that would make it interesting.
How many guys can stand on the float while getting ready to jump??
GT

My fantasy skydiving operation is to take a Houseboat and a 206 on floats. Take tandems skydiving over the lake, Girls in bikinis only, land on the top of the house boat, pack the parachutes on the 1st floor with bathroom, tshirt sales, bedroom. Pull a dock for the plane behind.

In regards to floats you have 2 options, EDO or Wipline. EDOs are hard to find and all really old, but parts are still available, more info here http://www.kenmoreairharbor.com/ talk to Eric Johansson. Wipline are still available new and used, new is super expensive, needless to say, http://www.wipaire.com/ talk to Mike Aune, very helpful.

Both brands can be a bitch to work on, been there done that.

I've never flown a 206 amphib, surely Mike Vivion will pipe in here, but I've always heard it's a dog. Betcha your airplane might be the cure for that

-Sam

Skydive206 wrote:After a couple of days of shake down flights (32degf, 600ft msl) I have determined that this thing needs a lot of weight in it or floats hanging off of it to slow it down. So Grossed out, 100 deg day, High altitude, doors off with spoiler or a set of amphibious floats would take advantage of the excess power. What forums can I go to get the best info 206s with floats?

I believe you noted earlier that this airplane has a far forward CG as is. Amphibious floats ALWAYS make the CG move forward, and almost always a LOT, due to those nose gears and actuators way out front. I'd talk to Wipline and Aerocet. THey are the biggest producers of amphib floats for the 206. They take very different approaches to mounting the floats. Wipline's floats and their IO 550 engine conversion raises the GW to 3800 pounds.

As to performance, more power is always welcome on floats. I've flown Soloy converted 206s with the Allison turbine, and they are great performers off the water, and it doesn't matter much what floats they're on....Power is king on floats. I flew a Soloy 206 on a set of the original PeeKay 3500 amphibs, which frankly are terrible performing floats, and that thing simply blasted out of the water before I could intervene .

I suspect fuel flow and capacity is going to be the limiting factor on this airplane on floats. Most folks use float planes to go to wilderness type places to fish and recreate, and/or support working folks out there. That takes fuel, and fuel is rarely available in those kinds of places. As an example, the Soloy converted 206 with the Allison turbine engine is a GREAT performer, but at around 25 gph or so, you have to substitute fuel for payload.....And, that means Flint tip tanks at a minimum or more likely the Sierra tanks. Fill those with 127 (or so) gallons of Jet A, and it doesn't leave much for "stuff". And, the little Allison engine doesn't burn as much fuel as a PT 6. Also, as you well know, turbines are much more efficient at altitude, and float planes by their nature tend to be operated low.

I'd refer you to the SPA forums, but they seem to be pretty much dead. I'd contact the manufacturers of the floats. I'd second Mike Aune as a great place to start a conversation with Wip. His contact info is on Wip's web site under directory.

MTV

The CG was put under control by placing one set of batteries in the back and can be placed anywhere to resolve CG range issues. It is still in prototype cowl, installed equipment and will be lightened, replacing the Hartzell with an MT, etc.. This thing does chew though fuel, I wish it was 25gph. Did the 206s on floats operated at lower alt because the pilot didnt want to climb or it was a waste to try and climb or was the trip leg short? What trip length were you running in the Soloy and what was the standard Pax cargo load? What HP were you running? Soloy advertised MK2 417 for takeoff and then 322 continuous. At 450hp continuous this airplane will climb quickly now with floats to the thinner air improving TAS and fuel burn. It could climb with floats to 10K at 2K fpm then cruise at 325 hp with decent speed and the bleed valve would be full closed. This airplane is not a plane to fly around empty and low alt. I am looking into if they can add Diesel as an approved fuel.

I honestly don't recall the weights on the Soloy 206s that I flew. They were a hundred pounds or so lighter than stock. An MT prop would help with that some. As noted, the real issue is fuel. Even if you can get the flow down to 30 GPH average, you're looking at a three hours to dry tanks airplane. And with full tanks, you're probably looking at a PAYLOAD of 400 to MAYBE 500 pounds after you put a pilot in it. And, this is Jet A, which is a pound a gallon heavier than avgas, so that 88 gallons weighs 88 pounds more than the equivalent avgas would. And that avgas would keep us aloft for six hours plus reserve, running LOP. I know...the turbine would go faster.....but speed isn't always everything.

There's a couple reasons nobody's beat down Soloy's door. Cost is one-when youve got an engine thats worth twice what the airframes worth.....and that has really short legs to boot. They're now trying to market to law enforcement, a field that is totally hung up on helicopters, but the sensor packages are now good enough to use fixed wing for many missions. Until drones take over....

As to different flight profiles, float pilots tend to stay low. It may be possible to work around that, but habits are hard to break. Most people fly seaplanes for fun and up in the flight levels means O2, nose bags and maybe IFR....not my idea of fun.

All I know is that float pilots are ALWAYS hunting fuel, and Soloy isn't cranking out their 206 conversions very fast.

MTV

Thank you for the reply. I can see that if the weather ceiling holds you down now your burning to much fuel. I used to fly Convair 580s and if Twr made you hold on the runway for too long we would have to go back for fuel. Hopefully I will be to busy hauling skydivers to chase this turbine float plane mistake.

A picture is worth a thousand...

Skydive206 wrote:Thank you for the reply. I can see that if the weather ceiling holds you down now your burning to much fuel. I used to fly Convair 580s and if Twr made you hold on the runway for too long we would have to go back for fuel. Hopefully I will be to busy hauling skydivers to chase this turbine float plane mistake.

Hey, don't stop dreaming about bikinis and seaplanes..... . Just don't plan on selling a lot of these to the folks in the far north.

MTV

Skydive 206, that sounds like a perfectly worthy fantasy with the house boat, and you are within range of the Lake of the Ozarks, a great place to operate out of.

When in Florida several years ago, the people we were staying with showed us a video they made of parachuting from their Aerocet float equipped C180. The camera man was in one float compartment taking video and the guy parachuting was in the other float compartment. No doubt a perfectly legal operation, don't think that one probably made it to utube.

Steve

It makes for nice pictures. One problem that I see with the whole house boat tandem girls thing is that my moto has always been "The less you wear the less it cost". Even if I could make it work operationally It looks like I would lose a lot of money.