bkdavy

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I purchased an old set of foam float cores a couple months ago from one of our club old timers. The floats came without directions, but did have plans showing sheeting (no dimensions). After a little research, I decided to sheet them with 3/32 balsa, water proofed all the seams with 30 minute epoxy and micro balloons, covered the sheeted assembly with thinned 30 minute epoxy, then covered with Monokote. Mounted them on my SPAD Debonair with a Thunder Tiger Pro 46 turning a 12x4 prop, put the entire assembly in the car with my family and luggage to go off our two week vacation in the Adirondacks.

Day One: First flight attempt. Prop was occassionally hitting the water until the plane was up on the step. Got the plane moving and after a VERY long take off run, it finally broke loose from the water. Wind was a little rough, and the plane needed 3/4 throttle just to maintain altitude. Normally this plane is very stable in high winds, but it was acting a little snaky, so I decided to bring it down. This being my first flight ever off water, I wasn't sure how much speed to maintain. Sure enough, I slowed too much, and the planes nose dropped just before I touche the water. The plane flipped over, but stayed afloat (although now inverted and about 400 feet away on the lake. After a desperate attempt to start my fathers old (1955 Johnson 10 HP outboard), I finally got to the crash site. Picked up the plane, turned off the switch and took it to shore.

After draining all the water out of the engine, pulling the glow plug and the head, I decided the best thing I could do is quickly get the engine heated up and dried out, so thats exactly what I did. Had the engine running within 30 minutes of coming out of the water.

Of course the receiver was drenched, so I had to take it apart, hit it with the hair dryer.

Day two - rain. No flying attempt.

Day three - Range check sat with the reciever now wrapped in plastic. Range check sat so I decided to try flying again. I increased the positive incidence of the wing relative to the floats so the prop doesn't hit the water now. Another long take off run, and she was up and away. Did three or four circuits, when the plane started acting snaky. I thought maybe I was taking radio hits from reflected interference. Brought the plane down quickly, but safely, almost 1000 feet away. Managed to taxi it back on the water.

Some trouble shooting revealed a loose connection on the elevator power wire that was causing an intermittent loss of elevator control. (yes I did thorough ground checks, but this one was tough to find). Repaired the elevator servo connection, again range check sat.

Day four: Another good chance to fly in the afternoon, so I put the plane in the air, this time with my mother and father, wife, and kids all watching. Plane was flying well, when suddenly, it went to full left rudder. I tried to compensate with elevator and ailerons, but it ended up in a spin and heading down. I killed the engine to close the throttle, and pulled full elevator. Just before impact, it started to pull out a little. It hit hard, nose first, but ended upright on the water. Dried the engine out as before, and back to trouble shooting.

This time, I found a loose connection on the rudder signal wire. Repaired the connection.

Day five: Woke up this morning to glass smooth water, so it was time to fly. Fueled up, started, took off, and it flew beautifully. There were a couple boats that entered my landing zone right after I took off, so I flew around for a while waiting for them to clear. When the LZ was clear, I lined up for a fast approach. Got on my line, kept the wings nice and level, and reduced throttle. The plane dropped down and touched down on the water, and came to a nice, smooth stop.

I've been flying for about three years, and this was a great way to get that old adrenaline rush again. Unfortunately, the rains started again, so have to wait to tomorrow to fly again. Next time, I'll get video.

Brad

bkdavy

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I must post a followup. This morning, in the middle of perfect flying weather, no traffic on the lake, coming out of a loop, the wing spar failed, and the plane came nose first into the lake from about 100 feet up. It was spectacular. Unfortunately, no repair materials on hand to build a new wing or repair the broken float (snapped at the step). Alas, she must be retired until next summer or I find a closer place to fly on floats.

Next week, back to wheels.


Brad

Throttle

I'm sorry to hear of your loss. I live on lake Sam Rayburn located in Texas. I will be putting my (Spad) Debonair on floats. It will be sometime before I will get to try it out on the lake.

bkdavy

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I promised video, [link=http://www.archive.org/download/Debonair_on_Floats_Summer_2006/Debonair_on_Floats_2006.WMV]so here it is[/link]. This was obviously before the tragic wing failure, so I didn't get a chance to film any aerobatics with the floats. The end show a nice aerial video of the lake where I was flying. If you look quickly at the beginning of the aerial section, there is a square green dock at the lower right corner. Thats where I was flying from.

Its 21 MB, so give it a chance to load.

Enjoy.

Brad

Throttle

Brad, great video! The cameraman did a great job also. Thanks for sharing. Did you have a water rudder attached to your Deb.? Do you know why the wing failed? Did the glue let go?

bkdavy

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Water rudder - 5/32" music wire bent and pushed into the rudder. An approximately 1"x3/4" piece of balsa at the bottom attached to the music wire with 30 minute epoxy, then covered with Monokote. You can see the water rudder extending below the rudder on take off. Its set at just about the same level as the rear of the floats. The plane still weather vanes at low speeds, and if the wind is more than a few MPH, I have to get it going pretty good to turn.

Post-mortem on the wing - the CA glue joint between the yardstick spar and the 2mm upper wing apparently failed earlier in the week during one of my more spectacular "landings". I didn't find it on preflight. The result was during a high stress maneuver (loop), the coro began to fold, causing the spar to twist, allowing the wing to completely fold. The coro for the new wing should be delivered today. I still haven't repaired the broken float, as I want to make sure its completely dried out before I seal it back up with epoxy and monokote. I have discovered a local club that has a pond for float flying, so I may pay them a visit once I get things back together.

Lesson learned - for float flying, make sure the yardstick spars have been water proofed. I think its better to use the Gorilla Glue on the spars for this type of flying, as the foaming action will also create a ridge on both sides of the spar that will help prevent twisting.

I'll pass on the compliment to the cameraman (my 20 year old son). Although I did have to throw away 20 minutes of out of focus and overzoomed video. Just goes to show you have to use a lot of film to get a few good shots.

Brad

FantzyPantz

Wow that was awesome video! Your son did a good job. I especially like the aireal video shots, Cool!

Throttle

Thanks Brad for the information. I was wondering what type of landing gear (brace) you used to mount to the floats? Is it aluminum or fiberglass and who made it. How did it attach to the floats. It appeared that there was no rear bracing or cross bracing is that correct.