Homebuilt Float Plane

wrote:
Got to fly a homebuilt Challenger on floats while up in northern
Minnesota for the crop dusting season. What a kick! I hadn't been on
floats for 35 years and finally got to add one more hour in the SES
column. Also managed to put in over 450 hours in helicopter spraying in
less than 4 months.
Anyone else had any experience with the little Challenger? Like a
little toy and certainly took some adjusting after such intense time in
helicopters.
SelwayKid

AOPA pilot had a story on the challenger on floats last year sometime,
IIRC. I've thought about one when the cashflow situation improves a
little. I got my float rating in Moose Pass AK a few years back and it
was great fun but I quickly realized that unless I got seriously loaded
I wouldn't be flying my own floatplane anytime soon in this lifetime.
Lots of great lakes and such up where I am in New England to play with
a machine like this.

Only concern I had was reading about yaw problems (especially with the
full doors on) with so much of the "cabin" out in front of the wing.
Supposedly Challenger addressed that in newer birds with a larger
vertical stab. I also really liked the idea of sticking it on wheelskis
in the Winter and not needing preheat because the Rotax 503 is a
snowmobile engine. 3-5 gallons of mogas per hour and self-maintained
makes it a pretty inexpensive way to fly.

I've also looked at the SeaRey and Czech-built Mermaid which are both
boat-hull amphibs, the Mermaid being manufactured under LSA and costing
about 100k so not quite comparable, but also supposed to do 120kts and
carry a 600# useful load so it's more of a "real airplane." Then if you
really want to go nuts you could always get yourself a "wingy dinghy"
like this:

http://www.medboat.com/watertoys/flyrib_why.shtml

If you can get over the fact that it's a completely preposterous
machine it actually looks like a lot of fun, though at $26k or so it
ought to be.

-cwk.