privatepilot

My Feedback: (1)

Ok, so after flying off pavement for 15 years, I thought it would be fun to put my recently finished GP RV-4 on floats. I bought the GP .40 size floats and built them per the instructions. Everything checks out on the CGs and all that. We leave this saturday to go on vacation. We will be about 50' from a lake, so I thought it would be great fun to take the plane up north with me. Ok, let's try this out before we drag it all the way up north. So off to the local river I go. Put it in the water and everything looked great. Floated perfectly, the water rudder worked much better than I anticipated. Ok, here goes.. Full throttle yielded tons of water spray into the prop. I held up elevator to keep the nose out of the water. Long story short, as soon as it got off the water, it snap rolled to the right and went nose first into the river. Nothing broke (just the prop), just filled the canopy up with water. All the electronics stayed dry. This plane has an .80 4 stroke on it that will literally yank it off the ground in about 10' and go straight up on takeoff. So after analyzing what happened, I'm pretty sure I just stalled the plane and tried to get it flying before it was ready to fly. I added some lexan strips to the inner edges of the floats tonight as recommended in the manual. Will these help? Does a plane on water look like it's going faster than it really is? I'm a little gunshy about trying again, but I'm taking it up north. So what do you think? Pilot error or is something setup wrong?

Thanks
chad

4*60

My Feedback: (41)

The model should get "up on step" once moving quickly. At that time you relax on the up elevator and it will take off similarly to on land. If you keep the up elevator on and lift off, you probably did indeed stall, since you weren't really at flying speed at that point.
Depending on the model and set up, it really is very easy. Try again and ease up on the "UUUP".

I've only flown off lakes with no current. If there is indeed any current in the river, the model will appear to be going that fast even if stationery relative to the shore. If you stare at the water in a river and nothing else, from shore, you get the feeling you are moving. The water is moving at x mph but the air and land are not, except for any wind of course.

NorthernBoy

My Feedback: (1)

I would check the angle between the floats and the wing. Too much will cause the airplane to take-off to early and stall. But it sounds like you did not have enough speed before jumping in the air. Keep trying and don't give up, you will find it a blast.

privatepilot

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks guys. I'll just try again and make sure it's really moving before I get it off the water. I'll report when I return from vacation.

Goinstraightup

My Feedback: (26)

Sounds good. I flew my Clound Dancer 60 (low wing) off of water for years. Your set up sounds good. Hope all goes well.

Jeff A

privatepilot

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks. On a different note.. How smooth does the water need to be to do this? Our lake is quite busy in the summer time, although I'll be in a low traffic area. The water is never smooth as glass (except at night)...

Goinstraightup

My Feedback: (26)

4-5 inches of chop is doable. I know boat wakes are a bummer. Usually if you have enough speed up before you hit them, they can act just like a ramp to get you airborne.

Where do you float fly in Sheboygan? I'm about 2 hours east of you by the Dells.

Jeff A

privatepilot

My Feedback: (1)

I fly at a local public park when I have wheels on the planes. Starting this weekend, we'll be in minoqua on vacation. So I'll actually be flying off lake minoqua.

Goinstraightup

My Feedback: (26)

Great! I've flown my float planes up in the Three Lakes / Eagle River area before. Love that area!

Jeff A

JimCasey

My Feedback: (1)

Chad,
I will second what several guys said earlier.
If you take off with wheels and you have full up elevator, you expect a disaster-and with floats it's no different.

Use full up to taxi.
Use full-up when you first apply power. But only while there is a danger of the prop hitting spray. It keeps the prop out of the water.
Watch the plane. You will see the nose first rise, and as the floats rise over the bow wave, the plane will nose over a bit.
Neutralize the elevator and you will see you are "on the step". this is just like flying a taildragger when the tail comes up. Now ease back on the stick and she'll fly off as pretty as you please.

Don't horse it into the air. The tail of the floats should not touch the water when you rotate.

Just like with any plane, be gentle with it until you learn where the edges of the envelope lie. Once you are familiar with it, THEN you can bend the sticks and stay out of trouble.

privatepilot

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks for all the input. I don't think I'll have any trouble. Just needed some reassurance.. =) Have a good weekend all.

Blue skies
chad