Well, my first experience with my Eagle II on floats was a real learning situation. The first thing I noted was that the takeoff run was longer even though the .46 engine was at full power. Then I noticed the amount of drag the floats made in the air. Throttling back to half power as I did with wheels attached caused the plane to begin loosing altitude which forced me to increase the throttle to the three quarters position. Even then the plane suffered a much slower flight speed. When time to land, I headed into the wind, and reduced the throttle like for landing on land. Immediately the plane started to drop like a rock from about an 8ft altitude. Being slow to react to this sudden change, my throttle increase did not take effect in enough time which caused the model to smack the floats heavy into the water causing the plane to flip over onto its' back. In reviewing this flight, and a lot of reading after, there is a real difference in landing on water than land. The first item is the difference in the drag of the wheels when touching down on a runway verses the high drag the floats will make when touching down the water surface. This effects both the takeoff and landing. My research brought out that in takeoffs, the floats have to reach planning step speed to reduce the drag enough for the wing lift to bring the model airborne. How long the takeoff will take depends on the how fast the floats reach the step position. This is where a larger than necessary engine is helpful. Now on landing, it was written that a soft contact is needed in order for the float drag be taken by the plane slowly while the pilot compensates more elevator needs to keep the float noses from digging into the water. The fuselage will have a high nose attitude until the plane speed is down to a slow taxi. I am sure more information will come forth to make some changes to what I have said here, but just understand that the two different surfaces present different drag situations to the landing gears.

Drying out my Eagle fuse and radio gear was a learning experience doing once was enough.

Good luck on your float flying!

Rich S.