Seaplanes?

"Montblack" wrote in message
...
("Larry Dighera" wrote)
The American Legend Cub is a LSA, so a pilot won't need a medical to
fly it, ...


Question: Is it a LSA or an LSA?

I can see "a" ...for a Light Sport Aircraft

But here, is it "an" ...for an (L)SA as in elephant?

Curious. My eyes see it one way, my ears hear it another.


Montblack
Never met a comma I didn't like.

It is the sound that matters.

A or An.
Use an in place of a when it precedes a vowel sound, not just a vowel. That
means it's "an honor" (the h is silent), but "a UFO" (because it's
pronounced yoo eff oh). This confuses people most often with acronyms and
other abbreviations: some people think it's wrong to use "an" in front of an
abbreviation (like "MRI") because "an" can only go before vowels. Poppycock:
the sound is what matters. It's "an MRI," assuming you pronounce it "em ar
eye."

http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/a.html

I always found preflight to be an acrobatic routine. There is a lot of
rigging all over the place on a float plane.

-Robert

On Mon, 05 Dec 2005 18:05:19 GMT, "Steph"
wrote in zj%kf.47416$ki.307@pd7tw2no::


"Larry Dighera" wrote in message
.. .
On Sun, 4 Dec 2005 23:58:05 -0600, "Jim Macklin"
wrote in
tKQkf.11646$QW2.11307@dukeread08::

Don't forget Legend Aircraft for the Legend Cub.

http://www.legend.aero/index.cfm
Base price configuration of $74,000,

The American Legend Cub is a LSA, so a pilot won't need a medical to
fly it, but it's only 100 HP, and lacks the performance of the
Cubcrafters 180 HP product (base price about double the Legend).
There's a good Legend Cub article he
http://www.flyingmag.com/article.asp...age_numb er=1


The only one worth considering
http://www.seawind.biz/


I always thought a high-wing would permit landing in rougher water,
because of the added height of the wing above the waves. Perhaps
someone with some seaplane experience can comment on that aspect.

Flyingmonk wrote:
Doug wrote:
The high accident rate (and most of the accidents aren't too
serious, just expensive), is due to taxiing, beaching and docking,
which are problematic. (Taxi over a sharp rock, run the plane up onto
rocks, punch a hole in the floats with a nail sticking out of a dock,
drift into a boat while trying to get started, land on waves that are
too big and break a strut, that sort of thing).

...and landing in water w/ gears down. Remember that one?

Superfloats are able to do it...

http://www.aerocompinc.com/floats/floats2.htm

paste
4. SAFETY -- in addition to the enhanced performance capabilities,
strength and weight savings offered by SUPER FLOATS, pilot also enjoy
the distinct advantages of a "conventional gear" configuration for the
amphibious models. By opting to replace complex nosewheel systems with
simpler, lighter, less complex tailwheels (fully steerable), the risk of
nose-over in the event of an inadvertent "wheels-down" landing in water
is SIGNIFICANTLY reduced. Test flight have been conducted successfully
with several different Super Float-equipped airplanes that demonstrated
it is possible (although ill-advised) to land in water with the wheels
accidentally extended WITHOUT HARM!
/paste

Larry Dighera wrote:

I always thought a high-wing would permit landing in rougher water,
because of the added height of the wing above the waves. Perhaps
someone with some seaplane experience can comment on that aspect.

Getting your prop into the water is considered bad thing...

"Larry Dighera" wrote in message
...
The only one worth considering
http://www.seawind.biz/


I always thought a high-wing would permit landing in rougher water,
because of the added height of the wing above the waves. Perhaps
someone with some seaplane experience can comment on that aspect.

The position of the wing doesn't affect the water conditions limiting the
airplane so much, as does the hull design, whether it's the entire fuselage
as the hull or attached floats (a "steeper" hull generally gives better
rough-water performance).

Note the the new Russian seaplane that has a low-wing design (not even
mid-wing, like the Seawind or similar airplanes). It appears to be able to
handle waves of roughly the same height as any similarly sized airplane,
from the pilot reports I've read.

As far as protecting the prop goes...

Engine on top may protect the prop in some situations. However, because
top-mounted engines are generally pusher engines, they actually are more
susceptible in other situations, because spray comes off the hull and heads
backwards over the wing and into the prop. At the high angles of attack
when the spray is at its greatest, a front-mounted prop may be reasonably
away from the spray. In the end, neither design is necessarily better than
the other; prop erosion is a fact of life for any seaplane.

IMHO, two genuinely important questions with respect to wing position are
where and how you interface with land, and stability during turns on the
water. A low wing position allows for a lower center of gravity and better
stability (though mitigated somewhat by having the engine up high). A high
wing position gives the airplane more clearance around solid objects, like
docks, rocks, and the like.

Finally, you can always be assured, practically anytime someone precedes a
statement with a phrase like "the only one worth considering", they are
either intentionally engaging in hyperbole, or they are an idiot. It is
exceedingly rare for a single airplane to be THE ONLY viable choice for a
given application, even when the application is defined narrowly (like "you
need to be able to transport a 747 fuselage in one piece"). When the
application is defined as broadly as "seaplane", there's no such thing as
"the only".

Pete

"Flyingmonk" wrote in message
oups.com...
Doug wrote:
The high accident rate (and most of the accidents aren't too
serious, just expensive), is due to taxiing, beaching and docking,
which are problematic. (Taxi over a sharp rock, run the plane up onto
rocks, punch a hole in the floats with a nail sticking out of a dock,
drift into a boat while trying to get started, land on waves that are
too big and break a strut, that sort of thing).

...and landing in water w/ gears down. Remember that one?


http://media.putfile.com/Wheels-down

Jay Honeck:
I Are An College Graduate

What a QouinkyDink so is I...

My guess: a LSA, a white elephant and an electric eel.

The Monk

Sorry, that shouldda been Jay Beckman. Sorry Jay.

Ouch! is all I can say.