The Yukon features carbon composite construction and a nickel leading edge. It can be used on both the wheeled and floated Cessna Caravan utilizing the PT6A-114A 675 SHP or PT6A-140 867 SHP engines.

• READ MORE: FLYING Unveils ‘Oshkosh Live’ Video Programming Lineup

According to Wipaire, the Yukon can reduce takeoff distances by up to 26 percent from land and 31 percent on water. The propeller weighs 137 pounds, which is lighter than others available by about 19 pounds. It also has optional pitch locks, and according to the company, will not change the stall speed of the aircraft. 

The Yukon is available with TKS or electric deice, or both.

“The successful flight performance with the Yukon is a testament to the collaboration between Hartzell Propeller and Wipaire engineers,” said Chuck Wiplinger, president and CEO of Wipaire. “The increased efficiency and power are a game changer for our customers and presale deposits are strong.”

• READ MORE: Army of Volunteers Gives AirVenture Its Lift

According to the company website, “Wipaire has developed over 100 STCs for the modification of aircraft, including float installations, engine and propeller upgrades, gross weight increases, instrument panel and Cessna 206 right-hand-door installations.

The post Wipaire Obtains FAA Approval for Yukon Prop STC appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Fire Boss will be sending 31 of the units to Air Tractor Europe, with delivery beginning in 2024 and extending through 2026. The deal was made during the recent Aerial Firefighting Europe conference in Athens, Greece.

“We believe the Fire Boss’ outstanding performance, coupled with Air Tractor Europe’s operational expertise, will greatly enhance wildfire suppression efforts,” said Chuck Wiplinger, president and CEO of Wipaire. “This order further solidifies the long-standing partnership between our two companies and their commitment to providing safe and fast aerial support, spanning Europe.”

In addition to owning Fire Boss, Wipaire is the No. 1 manufacturer of aircraft floats in the world.

• READ MORE: Wipaire’s Family on Floats

“We are thrilled to announce our contract for 31 Fire Boss [units],” said Vicente Huerta, president of Air Tractor Europe (ATE). “In addition to this multiyear order, ATE has purchased over 80 sets of floats for the European market. As we look ahead, the threat of wildfires is year-round. It is vital we create a fleet that can support our new reality.”

Air Tractor Europe, established in 1965, is the exclusive Air Tractor distributor for Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. The company has served as an Air Tractor dealer since October 1996. In addition to providing aerial operations, aircraft maintenance, and aircraft procurement, the company has an EASA Part 147 training center, preparing pilots for land and amphibious operations using a Level 2 flight training device (FTD).

The post Fire Boss Is Heading for Europe appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Today’s Top Pick is a 2014 Cessna 208 Caravan

Piston pilots have a variety of reasons for transitioning to turboprops, from making trips faster and carrying more stuff to reaching out-of-the-way places, especially at high elevations. This Cessna 208 Caravan could be ideal for a PIC who prefers high-wing aircraft and regularly carries significant loads. The aircraft handles a broad range of personal and commercial missions and can deal with remote and unimproved fields comfortably. 

This Caravan has 524 hours on the airframe and its Pratt & Whitney PT6A-T14A. Its three-blade McCauley 3GFR34C703 propeller has 161 hours since overhaul. A new Hartzell four-blade composite Yukon prop—to be installed later this year—will reduce the aircraft’s takeoff distance and improve its climb. An extended nose gear fork and 29-inch tires enhance the aircraft’s performance on unimproved runways. The Cessna also is equipped with a Wipaire single-point fueling system, four-place intercom and 13-place oxygen system. The airplane is currently configured to carry 10 passengers. 

Avionics are Garmin G1000, dual Garmin GRS 77s, Garmin GFC 700 autopilot, Garmin GTX 33 transponder, GWX weather radar, and a King KN 63 DME and  KR 87 ADF.

Pilots interested in island hopping, high-elevation bush flying, commercial cargo, or more ambitious family travel should consider this 2014 Cessna 208 Caravan, which is available on AircraftForSale.

You can arrange financing of the aircraft through FLYING Financial Group. For more information, email info@flyingfinancial.com.

• FLYING Magazine: Cessna Caravan Perfected?
• Plane & Pilot: A Caravan With Seoul
• Plane & Pilot: Largest All-Electric Plane Takes Flight
• The Aviation Consumer: Cessna 208 Caravan
• The Aviation Consumer: Used Aircraft Guide: Cessna Caravan

The post Today’s Top Aircraft For Sale Pick: 2014 Cessna 208 Caravan appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Today’s Top Pick is a 2022 Aviat A-1C-180 Husky with floats

With summer winding down and fall just around the corner, there isn’t a better time to go amphibious, especially if you live in an area of the country with four seasons. The weather is cooler, the camping is more comfortable, and the leaves offer an array of scenery that makes fall the most spectacular time of the year. 

If you are looking for a late-model amphib airplane with low total time, this 2022 two-seat Aviat Husky with just 182 hours is an intriguing choice. The Husky has a mean black and red paint job that will turn heads, but that is just the beginning. The teak and holly floorboards are a signature of the Husky, reminding you of  the wooden boats of yesteryear.

This Husky was recently outfitted with floats from Wipaire and comes equipped with Wipaire’s exclusive, safety-enhancing laser gear advisory system.  A major danger for an amphib floatplane pilot has been ensuring that the gear is in the correct position, depending on whether the airplane is landing on water or land.

However, the Wipaire laser gear advisory system, which uses laser sensors to determine the surface the aircraft is landing on, ensures that the gear is in the appropriate position to avoid potential hazards. 

This Husky also comes equipped with Garmin avionics, with free ADS-B weather. The tandem-seat is equipped with a Lycoming O-360-A1P engine. 

In addition to the airplane’s low total time, it has been well-maintained and is available for $500,000 on Aircraft For Sale. 

Interested in learning more about the Husky?

From the FLYING Media archives about the Aviat Husky: 

(Note: equipment featured in articles may differ from the above listing.)

• FLYING Magazine: Aviat Husky: This backcountry machine is a modern-day taildragger

• FLYING Magazine: Wipaire delivers its 500th set of the 2100A floats 

• FLYING Magazine video on YouTube: Aviat Husky 

• Aviation Consumer: Aviat Husky (March 24, 2021) 

• Aviation Consumer: Aviat Husky (April 19, 2023)

• Plane & Pilot: Rocky Mountain High – the Aviat Husky

The post Today’s Top AircraftForSale.com Pick: 2022 Aviat A-1C 180 Husky appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

At EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Hartzell announced it will deliver its 30,000th replacement prop in the conversion program in 2023. The Top Prop catalog boasts more than 100 options, aggregated over the course of 30 years, including from OEMs like Beechcraft, Cessna, Diamond, Piper, Mooney, Pilatus, Daher, and others.

New Top Props

Hartzell announced the latest supplemental type certificates awarded in the program, starting with the three-blade Polaris carbon fiber prop now offered as a factory option on the Diamond DA40 NG. The lightweight prop replaces the MT-Propeller wood/composite one that comes standard. The 74-inch diameter prop pairs with the Austro E4-A and has an aluminum hub, along with a 2,400-hour/six-year TBO. According to company president JJ Frigge, the prop delivers a 3 knot faster true airspeed and a 74.1 dB noise level. 

“We’re extremely excited about this platform, the Diamond DA40 NG,” said Frigge. He noted that the prop checks in at 35 to 40 pounds and “brings a new technology carbon fiber propeller” to the airplane. It’s also available as a retrofit.

The company—along with partner Wipaire—also expects STC approval “soon” on its Yukon four-blade propeller for the Cessna 208 and 208B Caravan on floats or wheels, hopefully in the third quarter. The composite 110-inch diameter prop is available with or without TKS ice protection or electric deice boots. It weighs about 19 pounds less “on the nose of the Caravan” and increases cruise speed at lower power settings.

“On the Caravan with a Yukon prop, Wipaire flight test results showed there is up to a 26 percent decrease in total takeoff distance from land and up to a 31 percent decrease in takeoff from water,” said Frigge. “This translates into safer takeoffs and landings on smaller lakes and shorter runways.” It’s available on all of the -114 and -140 Caravans on the market.

Included in the Top Prop program as well is the update to the Daher Kodiak 100 announced earlier this week.

The post Hartzell Expands Composite Prop Series in Top Prop Program appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The Yukon propeller was on display at the 2023 Sun ‘n Fun Aerospace Expo, gracing the nose of a Cessna Caravan at Wipaire’s display. 

The prototype of the propeller was introduced last summer at EAA AirVenture, prompting curiosity about the propeller’s performance.

“There is up to a 26 percent decrease in total take-off distance from land and up to a 31 percent decrease from water,” according to JJ Frigge, president of Hartzell Propeller. “This translates into safer take off and landings on smaller lakes and shorter runways.”

• READ MORE: Hartzell Voyager Propeller Approved for Cessna 180s

The propeller allows for an increase in cruise speed at lower power settings, Fridge said, adding,  “up to 2 knots faster, saving fuel while increasing speed. Another big improvement is in weight. Coming in at 137 pounds, it is up to 19 pounds lighter than other available props.”

The Yukon prop on display at the Sun ‘n Fun airshow was mounted on a Wipaire Caravan 208B with the Blackhawk -140 engine conversion. 

The company noted there is no change in stall speeds with the new propeller. The design is available with TKS, electric de-ice boots or without icing equipment, and optional pitch locks.

• READ MORE: Wipaire Delivers 150th Set of Wipline 13000 Floats to Trans Maldivian Airways

The Yukon is designed for use on Pratt & Whitney PT6A-114A shp and PT6A-140 867 shp engines, and can be used on either the 208 and 208B either with floats or on wheels.

“We are ready to take deposits and, depending on the FAA, we expect to have our STC later this year,” says Chuck Wiplinger, president and CEO of Wipaire.

The post Hartzell, Wipaire Conclude Testing of Yukon Prop, Await STC appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

“Achieving the milestone of delivering 150 sets of Wipline 13000 floats is validation of their durability and reliability, as well as the popularity of the Twin Otter airplane. We genuinely appreciate Trans Maldivian Airways’ partnership with us, said Wipaire president and CEO Chuck Wiplinger. “Every Wipaire employee takes pride in the design and manufacture of these floats and the commitment of TMA to choose Wiplines for their fleet,” he added.

The large 13000 float was certified in 1992 and gave transport companies a way to carry more people longer distances on a single flight. When equipped with these floats, the de Havilland Twin Otter became the go-to floatplane platform for Trans Maldivian.

“We grew tourism in the Maldives through seaplane operations. Wipaire has been a reliable supplier through this journey. We celebrate the delivery of the 150th set which are installed on our 59th Twin Otter,” said Stanley Ranjit, chief commercial officer for Trans Maldivian Airways.

Wipaire has designed and manufactured a range of aircraft floats for more than 65 years, including models made to fit aircraft from the Piper Cub to the Twin Otter. The company also offers maintenance, avionics installation and repair, custom interior design and installation, and exterior paint refinishing services, and has engineered more than 100 supplemental type certificated modifications.

• READ MORE: FAA Issues Emergency AD for de Havilland Otters

The post Wipaire Delivers 150th Set of Wipline 13000 Floats to Trans Maldivian Airways appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

• READ MORE: How To Get to the Sequatchie Valley by Airplane

Modern: ICON A5

In the air, the ICON A5 shows off a carbon-fiber design with truly docile low-speed handling characteristics, and serious stall and spin resistance. The A5 cruises at 85 knots indicated airspeed—and you can fly with the windows removed at 75 kias. It’s powered by a fuel-injected, 100 hp Rotax 912.

When it’s time to land, the 1,510-pound light sport aircraft gives the pilot two options: pavement or water. On dry land, the A5 uses a tricycle-gear configuration with a castering nosewheel. For a water landing, the A5’s gear tucks up into the hull—there are no struts or sponsons to mar its clean lines.

In front of the pilot and passenger lies the brains of the A5, with a couple of options. The A5 transitioned from a Garmin aera 796 multifunction display and GPS to a Garmin 3X Touch in 2021. The 3X Touch gives owners the chance to add a two-axis autopilot. It also comes standard with ICON’s ballistic airframe parachute system (IPS) and an angle-of-attack indicator. The A5 makes an ideal modern amphib platform.

Classic: Lake LA-250 Renegade

Because Lake Aircraft (under various owners) has delivered more than 1,300 aircraft over its 70-year history, pilots conjure up its silhouette when they think of the word “seaplane.” With a center-mounted Lycoming IO-540 engine (in 250 hp or a turbocharged 270 hp version) and twin sponsons, the Renegade, introduced in 1982, follows in the footsteps of the 1950s-era Buccaneer.

• READ MORE: The Sequatchie Valley Offers a Wonderland for Flying Adventures

The Renegade weighs 3,050 pounds at max gross, with a useful load of more than 1,000 pounds, depending on the engine. With seats for up to six people, you can take more friends or family along on the adventure with you. It’s a capable amphib all around, with the ability to fly IFR and a range of up to 1,036 nm, running at around 132 kias.

The company’s assets are up for sale, including the type certificate, but the classic amphib—available on the used market—offers flexibility for pilots who want to go further and faster before they splash down.

Utility: Cessna 180 Series on Floats

If your adventure in the Sequatchie Valley involves outdoor pursuits, such as rock climbing, camping, or fishing, you might consider the workhorse of the outback: the Cessna 180 series of airframes on floats.

Fitted with Wipaire’s Wipline Model 3000 floats, the Cessna 180 series can haul quite a bit of people and gear, and it retains the easy in-flight handling characteristics of those Cessna models, the 180, 182, and 185, depending on which model you find in this varying marketplace.

You can also adapt your airframe to floats, though not all models can make the transition. In the process, you may be able to upgrade with a Kenmore supplemental type certificate (STC) offering a gross weight increase to 3,190 pounds, augmenting useful load by about 240 pounds.

This article was first published in the 2022 Southeast Adventure Guide edition of FLYING Magazine.

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A Husky on floats forms nearly the perfect summer fly-away machine—if the pilot’s destination involves lakes or rivers in remote areas. Wipaire, which celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2020, announced on April 5 that it has delivered 500 of its popular 2100A float kits, with the latest going to a customer to be put on an Aviat A-1C-180 Husky.

“The Wipline 2100A is the best-selling float in its class. This milestone delivery reflects the durability and reliability of the design and construction. Since the first set was certified in 1997, this model of amphibious float has remained number one choice for owners of smaller aircraft,” said Chuck Wiplinger, president and CEO of Wipaire, Inc, “We want to thank our employees for reaching this historic delivery and all the customers who trust us with their aircraft.”

Attendees at the Sun ‘n Fun Aerospace Expo can see the Husky with the floats on display on Friday, April 16, at the Wipaire booth (MD-032D). The floats are available in both amphibious or straight (seaplane) configurations, and the floats feature two large-sized hatches, measuring 20 3/8 inches by 10 1/2 inches and able to carry up to 50 lbs each. The floats are crafted with aluminum skins and laser-cut with pre-punched rivet holes for easy repairs.

The post A Milestone Passes for Wipaire’s Popular 2100A Floats appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Frenchman Henri Fabre’s name might not ring a bell to most people. But it just might to pilots operating aircraft that use lakes and rivers as their runways. In 1910, Fabre was credited with the first flight of a powered seaplane at Martigues near Marseille, France. Oddly, Fabre was not even a pilot when he flew his gangly looking Hydravion aircraft just over a mile. The airplane’s plywood floats were so elegantly designed more than a hundred years ago that they created additional lift once the aircraft was airborne. Fabre’s seaplane flight was followed a year later by another similar event, this flight by American aviation pioneer Glenn Curtis at the controls of his Curtis Model D. Curtis’ airplane employed a central float and outboard sponsons for stability. So radical was Curtis’ feat in early 20th-century America, he was awarded the first Collier Trophy for flight achievement.

Within 25 years of those first flights, enormous flying boats such as Pan Am’s Clippers became renowned for their luxurious trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic flights. Today, operating on the water has become the realm of smaller aircraft such as the Cessna Caravan on floats or the Super Viking (an updated version of the famous de Havilland Twin Otter), not to mention a host of single-engine aircraft that often traded their factory-installed landing gear for a set of enormous pontoons. Many of today’s floats include retractable landing gear that transforms them into versatile amphibious machines able to operate from both hard-surface runways and the water.

A major player in design and construction of aircraft floats is Wipaire, a family-owned business based at Fleming Field (KSGS) in South St. Paul, Minnesota. The company, also operating from the nearby Wipline Seaplane Base (09Y), has been creating the successful Wipline series of floats since the early 1960s, when the company evolved from Wiplinger Aircraft Service under the guidance of company patriarch Ben Wiplinger. The original Wiplinger Aircraft Service focused on converting surplus military Douglas DC-3s and Lockheed Lodestars into corporate aircraft for companies such as 3M.

A Family Business

Ben purchased his first seaplane in 1951, and the company’s focus on aircraft at home on the water began. He began testing his first set of floats on the Cessna 180 he purchased in 1961. Those first floats were created with a metal bonding system that reduced the rivet count and saved weight, as well as incorporated another of Ben’s simple yet unique ideas: a flat surface on top that made stepping into and out of an airplane both easier and safer by keeping everyone’s feet dry.

Succeeding Ben was his son Bob, known to all as Wip, the company’s chairman of the board. He remembers his early days at the airport and becoming involved in the business. “When I was 4 or 5 years old, I began running around Fleming Field on my tricycle. By 10 or 12, I was fueling DC-3s and Lodestars in addition to the little airplanes.” He soloed in a Piper Cub at age 15 and, by 1978, began running Wipaire Aviation Services, before he spearheaded a name change to Wipaire. The new company gained a reputation as practical problem-solvers for well-known pilot pain points.

Wip says it was a natural strategy: “My dad was a born mechanic. He was a tinkerer and an inventor who built his first airplane, a Pietenpol.” In addition to a handful of ratings, including seaplane instructor, Wip trained as an aeronautical engineer. He says, “The main thing that really got Wipaire moving was the amphibious floats we crated for the Cessna 206,” when at the time, “none of our competitors had such a thing.” Wipaire pretty much owned that market segment for about 10 years.

The company began creating metal floats for larger aircraft such as Beavers before eventually moving on to the Cessna Caravan, which created long-term success. “In 1985, we moved on to Twin Otters.” Wip, like his dad, is the guy who created many of the company’s somewhat radical solutions. “I’m a brainstorming sort of the guy,” Wip says. “[But today], I come up with an idea, sketch it out, and then let the other guys crunch the numbers to see if it will work.”

Like his dad before him, Wip’s son Chuck, now the company president and CEO, grew up around Fleming Field. “I turned 16, got a driver’s license and started working at the airport, turning wrenches on airplanes. I soloed on my 16th birthday, before I even got my driver’s license, in fact.” Chuck earned his private pilot certificate on his 17th birthday. “I took my private check ride in a 172 on wheels, and then went down to the seaplane base and got in a PA-11 on floats and did my seaplane rating. And then I moved on to my engineering education.”

He mentioned one possible regret along the way: “I never did take the A&P practical test.” Chuck has managed to keep Wipaire’s practical problem-solving philosophy intact, but he says: “Honestly, it’s just entrepreneurship because my dad enjoys dreaming up new products and stuff. I don’t get into that a whole lot myself at this point. For me, though, it’s really obvious when Wip comes up with these things and how he does it. He just kind of looks at an airplane and decides what it really needs most.”

Chuck says it’s also about being smart about the company’s design efforts for Wip’s ideas, such as “using good products for primer and good quality paint.” Good design is also about thinking ahead to lubrication where it’s needed, “because preventative maintenance is the best way to reduce corrosion, as well as watching for galvanic corrosion.” In this case, galvanic corrosion happens when two dissimilar metals begin to react with each other while immersed in water. “People ask us why we don’t use stainless-steel hydraulic fittings everywhere, for instance,” Chuck says. “We tell them that screwing those stainless-steel fittings to an aluminum bulkhead fitting will make those fittings corrode relatively quickly.”

Chuck explains: “The company’s grown on us a lot as a family over the last 10 to 15 years, so I’ve spent a lot of time building a more professional leadership team. I’ve also tried to run a very fun company; we’re just not a suit-and-tie kind of place.” Chuck says his business expertise evolved from mentorship and jumping into the deep end of the pool. He says that exposed the places the company needed outside expertise to grow, so he hired a vice president of operations to run the manufacturing and the services side of the company, as well as a separate vice president for business services who covers the administrative, HR and financial sides of the house, a vice president of engineering, and a vice president of sales and marketing.

Creating the Fire Boss Mod

People who live in regions of the world prone to wildfires have become used to seeing giant C-130 or DC-10 aircraft swoop into areas trying to douse the flames of a major fire by precisely dumping thousands of gallons of water in one spot. Those big aircraft demand a considerable amount of time and money to load and dispatch to a site for a 30-second fire run, however, which is why they’re typically brought in when a huge fire is already raging out of control.

The people at Wipaire saw a need—to create a less expensive water bomber to help squelch a fire while it’s still small—as another one of those consumer pain points—and went to work to create a solution. Their answer was the Fire Boss modification to a stock Air Tractor AT-802 powered by a 1,600 hp Pratt & Whitney Canada turboprop. While aircraft able to skim the surface of a nearby lake or river to use that water on a blaze aren’t new, the use of a much less expensive single-engine aircraft like the Air Tractor is.

Once Wipaire-designed floats are installed on the Air Tractor 802, the aircraft is ready to attack a local blaze with very little outside help or preparation. The pilot lightly skims the surface of the water, and the Wipaire-designed scoops quickly fill the airplane’s big water tank to help a local agency try and contain a fire while it’s still small. Air Tractor’s website says an 802F Fire Boss scooper air tanker can “deliver up to 14,000 gallons per hour for extended attack or ground support when using a local water source.” Slightly more than 110 Fire Boss aircraft are in use around the world in Canada, Chile, Argentina, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Australia, Indonesia and Spain, as well as in the US.

As usual, there’s a story behind the creation of the Fire Boss. Wip says he once approached Air Tractor founder Leland Snow with the idea of adding Wipaire’s unique brand of floats to the airplane to transform it into a fire bomber. “He kind of laughed at the idea at first.” Surprisingly, Wip doesn’t seem to take people scoffing at his ideas personally and actually accepts them as a challenge. “We took a set of Twin Otter floats and chopped them down, and figured out how to add the scoops,” he says. “It took about a little over a year to complete the STC.”

People quickly saw the value in the Fire Boss airplanes and bought them, but then, Wip says: “Pratt came out with a bigger engine that we put in, and that made a really good airplane. They’ve been selling really good ever since all over the world.” He explains a fill-up run from the cockpit. “The pilot touches down on the water at about 60 to 70 knots. They lower the scoops and go to full power, and just sit there at that speed scooping water until they get the amount they need, and then just take off and head to the fire. The pilot never slows down. They can grab 800 gallons in about 13 seconds.”

The forces involved in fast taxiing at 60 or 70 knots and adding nearly 5,000 pounds of weight in just a few seconds demands some serious training to develop a competent fire-bomber pilot. Most Fire Boss customers use pilots with previous Air Tractor time, even if they’d never flown fire suppression, believing it’s easier to train them than to try and teach a fire-bomber pilot how to fly the Fire Boss from zero time.

For many years, Wipaire handled the training of new Fire Boss pilots, which sometimes presented its own challenges because the standard aircraft is a single seat. Wip remembers teaching a Spanish pilot to fly the airplane. The pilot didn’t understand English well enough to fully comprehend the training. The trick turned out to be the instructor pilot sitting in a boat on the water with a handheld radio and a translator next to him. The instructor gave the instructions to the translator, who then repeated them in Spanish to the pilot. Wip says, “The time delay made for some interesting instructional sessions, but we ended up getting through it.”

Looking Ahead

Another new project for Wipaire is working toward certification of carbon-fiber composite floats for the Twin Otter fleet. Wip says, “We just got finished with all the structural testing.” He says these sealed floats offer a few operational advantages. “The pilot no longer needs to pump them for water before each flight. They’ll also weigh 350 pounds less than metal floats, and they’re actually stronger too.” Wip says the engineering staff tested them to 2.5 times their maximum load, and they didn’t break. The FAA only requires testing to 1.5 times the maximum load to achieve certification.

Today, Wipaire builds floats for the venerable Piper Cub (Wipaire model 2100), the Cessna 172 and the Maule series (model 2350), the Cessna 180/182 (model 3000), the de Havilland Beaver (model 6100), the Cessna Caravan series (model 8750), the Air Tractor AT-802 that becomes the Fire Boss aircraft (model 10,000), and the de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter, including the updated version now produced by Viking in British Columbia. After 35 years, Wipaire remains the only company delivering floats for the Cessna Caravan series.

The company also created a host of other aircraft accessories, such as the in-house-designed laser gear advisory system to help stem the number of gear-down water landings, the industry’s most prominent source of accidents. For the Cessna Caravan, Wipaire produces an extended baggage modification, a single-point refueling system to speed turns for commercial operators, new interior options, gross weight increases, boarding ladders and steps, and the Blackhawk engine upgrade that swaps the Caravan’s stock PT-6A-114 for a brand-new 140. There are also gross-weight increases for other aircraft (such as the Super Cub), single-point refueling and a three-blade prop upgrade for the Quest Kodiak, and an executive interior upgrade for the Twin Otter. The company also recently expanded its paint booth at KSGS.

Looking to the future, Chuck says: “I don’t think that we’re any different than anyone else in the current environment with COVID and unrest and everything else. You’re kind of always worried about what the world economy’s doing and what it means to us, so we’re wading our way through it all and adjusting as we need to in order to make sure we’re not caught off guard.” So, how has Wipaire managed to produce such a wide range of products aimed at the floatplane world? Wip smiles and says, “We like to screw around with airplanes.” Clearly, the 199 people the company employs love supporting that strategy.

Best Practices for Floatplane Operations and Maintenance

Aircraft owners probably fear discovering corrosion on their land-based airplanes more than just about anything else, short of bending their airplanes along the way. When an airplane regularly operates in the water, operational and maintenance risks increase.

Steve McCaughey is pretty straightforward about it. “Every day you take your seaplane out, you’re risking that being a very expensive day.” McCaughey is the longtime executive director of the Seaplane Pilots Association and a pragmatic observer of the industry. Remember that old proverb, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”? Harry Shannon thinks there’s no better strategy for maintaining a seaplane. As an experienced A&P seaplane technician, Shannon knows corrosion can be the kiss of death for any seaplane, even when the airplanes are washed down after a flight. He owns the Bartow, Florida-based Amphibians Plus maintenance shop.

Of all the demons waiting to eat a seaplane alive, nothing is much worse than salt water, Shannon says, especially the warm salt water found in the Caribbean. “It acts a little like warm battery acid.” Aircraft operators in these waters can plan on maintenance costs related to corrosion that are “triple or quadruple those of aircraft used in fresh water.” Shannon spoke to that electrolysis issue Chuck Wiplinger touched on—in this case, an amphib docked in fresh water near Orlando where the water contains significant amounts of tannins. “The main gear actuator was routed near a stainless-steel line because none of the metal was supposed to corrode. But after days, weeks and months went by, we found electrolysis between the aluminum actuator and the stainless line attempting to eat holes in the actuator.” The easy solution was to replace the actuator, but that simply avoids the problem. Shannon says, “The best solution was to replace the hose with a Teflon and stainless-steel braid to remove the dissimilar-metals issue.” One of the big mistakes seaplane operators make is not doing enough prevention. Consider the lubrication issue. “If it moves, it needs regular, repeated lubrication,” he says. “And not just annually, if you expect [a part] to be functioning at the next annual.”

McCaughey has been around seaplanes for 30 years and knows that when you use a hard-surface runway, “you’re pretty much assured you’re not going to drop into a big pothole or hit a tree. But operating a seaplane in an active river where there might be runoff that drags branches and other debris into the waterway, that debris can rip the skin open on the floats.”

He teaches pilots a simple trick to avoid a common issue: leaky floats. “When I park the aircraft on the water, I go back an hour later and re-pump the floats.” He says it’s important to remember how many pumps it took to empty the floats before the previous flight. “Just because the floats were good when I took off, doesn’t mean that I didn’t hit a piece of rebar or a concrete block beneath the surface of the water. If all of a sudden I get five strokes of the pump out of the compartment that I usually get one stroke out of, I know something important has changed.”

Another operational problem: “It’s been a very bad year for gear-down water landings. With a gear-down water landing, there’s a good chance it’s going to be fatal and generally is a write off on the airplane.” McCaughey says the solution all comes down to pilot discipline because some 80 percent of pilots earn their seaplane rating in a straight float airplane without amphibious gear. But most pilots later buy amphibs, he says. “Are they qualified to fly an amphibious airplane? Not really. But they’re certified. There’s a dramatic difference between flying hulls and flying float aircraft. In my safety seminars, I probably revisit gear position once every six minutes.”

McCaughey believes the majority of gear-down landing accidents probably start from the fact that the pilot never raised the gear after takeoff. He says, a gear alerter or indicator should only go off because the pilot failed to do everything they should have. “It’s a last resort. Never depend on the advisory to confirm your gear is in the right position. You should know before the gear advisory system ever warns you—because you’ve done your checklist. Remember, this is a zero-fault procedure.”

This story appeared in the November 2020, Buyers Guide issue of Flying Magazine

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