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| Canadair CL-415 operating on "Fire watch" out of Red Lake, Ontario, c. 2007 |
An amphibious or amphibian aircraft is an aircraft that can take off and land on either land or water. Amphibious aircraft are typically flying boats and floatplanes with retractable wheels. An example of a true amphibian is the Grumman Mallard, a flying boat, designed and built in the mid 1940s. The largest amphibian ever built was the Hughes H-4 Hercules, nicknamed the "Spruce Goose". The aircraft was originally contracted by the U.S. government for use in World War II, as a viable way to transport troops and equipment across the Atlantic instead of sea going troop transports that were liable to the threat of German U-Boats. Due to its protracted development time, the Hercules was not used in the war. To fulfill contractual requirements, Howard Hughes flew the plane for its first and last time, barely above the water, for a mile (1.6 km) on 2 November 1947.[1] Aircraft originally designed to land on the ground, if an amphibious version is desired, will be challenged by extra drag and weight of aftermarket floats. It is highly unusual for a land based aircraft to have a fuselage which can be modified and strengthened to land on water. Amphibious aircraft which are based originally on land aircraft are usually not flying boats, therefore, but float planes. Amphibian aircraft have their uses, not least as transport aircraft in remote areas, where there are few airstrips but plenty of lakes and rivers.
Amphibian aircraft are heavier and slower, more complex and more expensive to buy and run than comparable landplanes but they are versatile. They do compete favorably, however, with helicopters that compete for the same types of jobs, if not quite as versatile. Amphibious aircraft have longer range than comparable helicopters, as an airplane's wing is more efficient than a helicopter's lifting rotor. The flying boat-style amphibian can have nearly the range of land-only airplanes.[2] As mentioned above, airplanes outfitted with external floats have shorter range due to extra drag and weight of these large floats and supporting structures required to connect floats and the airplane fuselage. The Grumman Mallard, a true amphibian seating up to 17 passengers was designed with integrated wing-mounted retractable floats, which also act as fuel tanks. These are removable for extended land/snow operations. Few flying boats are manufactured today but numerous land aircraft are, each year, converted to seaplanes (or amphibious aircraft) by exchanging their fixed landing gear for (amphibious) floats. A handful of manufacturers around the world still produce amphibian aircraft (flying boats with retractable landing gear), such as the Bombardier 415, and the Lake Amphibian family.
References
- ^ McDonald, John J. (1981). Howard Hughes and the Spruce Goose. Tab Books Inc.. ISBN 0-8306-2320-5.
- ^ [http://www.m allardaviation.com Grumman Mallard].
See also
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