Ken,

The Russian company Beriev had this interesting amphibian at OSH
Look how close the wing is to the water for ground effect
and the length of the  wing strakes. The Russians know a lot about
flight in ground effect. It was built with aluminum so composites
ought to be tougher and stronger.

Look how fast it is with only 420 HP.
I think the payload number is a mistake.
That is probably less fuel.

http://www.beriev.com/eng/be-103/be-103.html

I think the idea will work on the Coot.
You could do away with the sponsons and their drag.

Paul Lamar

Barnhart wrote:

Ken,

I was at Brennand when it came in. There was a very light 2" waves. This
beast was plowing,  I mean PLOWING throw the water. Using lots of fuel and
hp to get into the seabase. The reason it seats six is so that you have
people to move it where you want it. It took five to tie it up. Also very
noisy.

Some of the comments I heard that day.

Are those wings or is that a keel?

Good thing there wasn't 3" seas.

I saw a Cherokee 140 do an emergency landing in water.  It had more wing
hanging above the water.

Maybe they know something this crowd didn't know. I wouldn't go for a ride
in that if they paid me.

Barny
MGDQ  20bt

Besides all that what the hell does some dumb Russian peasant engineer know 
about designing sea planes :)

What it does when it is displacement taxiing is irrelevant.
Sea state 2 does not mean the waves are 2" high.
An inexperienced non engineer's initial impressions mean nothing.

Paul Lamar
 
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