Floatplane

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
A de Havilland Canada DHC-3T Turbo Otter floatplane in Harbour Air livery

A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, making the vehicle an amphibious aircraft.[1] British usage is to call floatplanes "seaplanes" rather than use the term "seaplane" to refer to both floatplanes and flying boats.[2]

Use

Floatplanes allow access to most remote aquatic locations

Since

charter
basis (including pleasure flights), provide scheduled service, or be operated by residents of the area for private, personal use.

Design

Floatplanes have often been derived from land-based aircraft, with fixed floats mounted under the fuselage instead of retractable undercarriage (featuring wheels). Floatplanes offer several advantages since the fuselage is not in contact with water, which simplifies production by not having to incorporate the compromises necessary for water tightness, general impact strength and the hydroplaning characteristics needed for the aircraft to leave the water. Attaching floats to a landplane also allows for much larger production volumes to pay for the development and production of the small number of aircraft operated from the water. Additionally, on all but the largest seaplanes, floatplane wings usually offer more clearance over obstacles, such as docks, reducing the difficulty in loading while on the water. A typical single engine flying boat is unable to bring the hull alongside a dock for loading while most floatplanes are able to do so.

U.S. Navy

Floats inevitably impose extra

air races devoted to floatplanes attracted much attention during the 1920s and 1930s, most notably in the form of the Schneider Trophy
, not least because water takeoffs permitted longer takeoff runs which allowed greater optimization for high speed compared to contemporary airfields.

There are two basic configurations for the floats on floatplanes:

The main advantage of the single float design is its capability for

mooring and boarding, and – in the case of torpedo bombers – leave the belly free to carry a torpedo
.

See also

References

  1. ^ James M. Triggs (Winter 1971). "Floatplane Flying". Air Trails: 39.
  2. ^ The Oxford English Dictionary defines "seaplane" as "An aeroplane designed to be able to operate from water; specifically, one with floats, in contrast to a flying boat."
  3. ^ NASM research Archived 2007-11-24 at the Wayback Machine

External links