While commuting back to Hillsboro/Stark's Twin Oaks in the Maule on Sunday there was a Turbine Grumman Goose G21A/McKinnon with PW PT6A27's. I thought it was just really cool to look at while I was tying down....then I heard the turbines spool up and could smell the kerosene. I'm guessing he was airborne in 400 feet! It is amazing what horsepower will do for ya. I will work at getting a photo up. Heard it is based in Hillsboro.

I must see this bird.

We have discussed 'lottery birds' before........ This certainly qualifies high on my nonexistent list....

lc

Was it N642?

MTV

or N70AL?

The Turbine Goose is N640. It is blue and yellow...if I get beyond my technical difficulties, I will post a pic. It is based in Hillsboro, maybe Teufel's hanger. I knew he would be smokin with that horsepower, I was surprised how short his take off roll was.

There is a company that is producing them, they rebuild old Geese as well as produce new aircraft.

http://www.antillesseaplanes.com/

N640 was restored by Larry Teufel over 8 years or so, he brought it into Kenmore several times during the process. I wonder about those Antilles guys, that website hasn't changed in about 4 years. If you look in they're gallery you'll see both of Larry's blue and yellow birds as he restored them, not as Antilles did. I believe the all white machine in said gallery was crashed in Bahrain or the UAE this past winter.

A friend of Kenmore's is doing an all out restoration on one of these original McKinnon birds at Paine Field currently. He's planning to take 5 years and he's just about 1 year in, gonna be expensive!

Sam

Here's some pictures of N640





Sam

Very cool photos Sam. I didn't get a chance to get up close...so those are some nice shots. Didn't Jim Chrysler have a Goose on Lake Union, too?

donknee wrote:While commuting back to Hillsboro/Stark's Twin Oaks in the Maule on Sunday there was a Turbine Grumman Goose G21A/McKinnon with PW PT6A27's. I thought it was just really cool to look at while I was tying down....then I heard the turbines spool up and could smell the kerosene. I'm guessing he was airborne in 400 feet! It is amazing what horsepower will do for ya. I will work at getting a photo up. Heard it is based in Hillsboro.

Technically speaking, a Goose is either a "Grumman G-21A" or a "McKinnon" model G-21C, D, E, or G.* It can't be both at the same time - that implies simultaneous certification under two separate TCs - which is impossible. (The two TCs are Grumman's original no. 654 and McKinnon's 4A24, which are now owned by Frakes Aviation and Antilles Seaplanes respectively.) There is also no such thing as a "Grumman" model G-21C, D, E, or G. Once converted and re-certified by McKinnon under TC 4A24, his Gooses were officially no longer "Grumman" products at all.

*The one exception to that "rule" was the so-called "Aleutian Goose" which crashed back in February in the United Arab Emirates. (It was not the “all white” one that Halestorm mentions that crashed.) It was N221AG and it was registered as a "McKinnon G-21G" but in fact it was not "built" (i.e. converted and re-certified) by McKinnon and it never conformed to the model G-21G type design. It was actually conceived, designed, and converted (i.e. "built") by Fish & Wildlife Service personnel in Alaska. From what I have been able to find during my research, FWS wanted McKinnon to get their design approved under his TC (4A24) as a new model "G-21F" but that never happened - it was never approved or certified as such by the FAA. Instead, FWS apparently told the FAA that N780 (as it was registered at the time) would be converted as a McKinnon G-21G and then further modified by means of two unique STCs. In fact, based on its official records from the FAA archives in Oklahoma City, they simply converted it directly from a G-21A (s/n B-72) into their "G-21F" configuration and then they just started calling it a modified McKinnon G-21G or "G-21G(STC)" - several years after McKinnon had already stopped converting Gooses.

For the record, any Goose just "modified" by means of McKinnon-owned (or other) STCs under the aegis of a “major alteration” and FAR 43 (i.e. not fully converted and re-certified or “built” actually by McKinnon under the authority of TC 4A24 and FAR 21) is still just a "Grumman G-21A" as far as the FAA is concerned. And nobody except McKinnon ever had the authority to build a "McKinnon" Goose; that’s one of the corollaries of FAR 45.13(a). Viking owned TC 4A24 from 1984 until 1998 and if they had ever converted a Goose under its authority, that Goose would have become a "Viking" Goose.

Also, when Teufel bought the stripped out hulk of N640 (Grumman G-21A s/n B-123) in 1996, it apparently had no engines or props. I was told that he used two PT6A-28 engines off of a Piper Cheyenne II for his “restoration” and "upgrade" of N640 and then got them added to TC 4A24 as an option for the model G-21G under Section IV of the TC.

Halestorm wrote:Here's some pictures of N640





Sam

donknee wrote:..... Didn't Jim Chrysler have a Goose on Lake Union, too?

A local Port Townsend area guy named Cliff Larrance bought that one back in the 90's & flew it for a few years, then sold it off. Don't know where it went. I have .2 right seat time logged in it. The tailnumber's in my logbook at the airport. It was blue & yellow which looks like maybe a common color scheme for gooses.

That was N327, Hotrod. Chrysler did have it on Lake Union for a while. I worked on it a bit while he had it. It went back East and crashed and burned.... I heard it was being rebuilt, but haven't heard anything for a while on it, so not sure as to what it's status is. Too bad...that was a pretty nice Goose, with a great history (Tales of the Gold Monkey). As for the turbines... they just don't look right on there......but they sure do go!
Here's a link to a crash pic of 327......
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6985&p=110842#p110842
It's toward the end of the thread.
John

What about this:

http://www.generalaviationnews.com/2010 ... m-machine/

I wonder if it will ever go any further than a prototype? Anyone know more about it?

D.

The Gweduck is definitely a vey cool "homebuilt" but I haven't heard anything about plans to put it into production in any way. I work with a guy who really likes it too. If it ever does go into production, as either a kit or a production airplane, it could have a big impact on the seaplane community - especially in regard to MES training. There just aren't very many UC-1 Twin Bees and Widgeons left that are still serving that training role. Obviously, if it doesn't, it won't.

Hardtailjohn, if you'd like, I can put you in touch with the current owner of N327 in NY. He's a nice guy and I think he'd be tickled to hear from you and any stories that you might have about that particular Goose. I may just go ahead and send it to you via a PM.

Got it 150Mike...Thanks!!!! I'll have to round up some pics and get ahold of him!
John

hardtailjohn wrote: That was N327, Hotrod. .....Here's a link to a crash pic of 327...... viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6985&p=110842#p110842

Checked my logbooks-- yup, N327. I flew in it back in 1997. Looked at the post-crash photo- holy smokes, not much left of thing! What a shame.
Is N327 the Goose in your avatar, John?
I saw the Geweduck parked on the ramp at Skagit airport (north of Seattle) a couple months ago. All smooth composite, very nice looking. I have my doubts about whther it'll be a commercially-successful venture-- not sure that there's a market for that sort of ready-built airplane at the price it'd have to command, or for a homebuilt at the cost of the time & money it'd take to build one.

hotrod150 wrote: Is N327 the Goose in your avatar, John?

Yep...just after we rolled it out one morning...about '95 or '96.. (I moved back home in '96) at Skagit.
John