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Since this is a seaplane, and my friend and test pilot, John, gave me the wing from an old Eagle trainer, I named it The Sea Eagle. It's dimensions are 53" overall length with a 62" wingspan The wing has a 12" chord, giving it about 720 sq. inches of upper wing surface. The fuselage, at it widest points, is 4" wide at the top and 6" wide at the bottom. The engine pod is 13"L x 2 3/4"H x 3 3/4"W and it houses the engine, 11 oz. fuel tank, and the throttle servo.
I thought this airplane would be rather heavy, but compared to my other two size 40 airplanes, it's a lightweight. I used my new digital bathroom scale to weigh it. First, I just weighed myself, then held the fuse and wing and stepped on the scale again. The difference was 4.4 lbs. That is with everything on the plane except a load of fuel. The Alpha 40 trainer that I'm flying is stated to weigh 5.25 lbs. I don't have the weight of the Explorer L, but I beleive it to weigh more than the seaplane as well.
The Sea Eagle was first put on the water just to test the wing float height and rudder depth. The floats are good, but the rudder was barely in the water. However, taxi tests proved that the steering was good on the water at different taxiing speed. You can view the Taxi Video Here..
It was several weeks later before conditions were right for a friend and I to take it out for a flight test. As I only recently soloed, my friend took the controls and I used the video camera to record the flight...well, most of it anyway. The tiny digital camera was difficult to hold steady when zoomed in on the plane, so the video is a little shakey. Here are the two video sequences. Maiden Flight Pt. 1.. Maiden Flight Pt. 2..
There were a few trim problems that I hope I have corrected by adjusting the control linkages. We'll make another flight soon and I'll get better videos.
Photo taken from the video clip of me with the Sea Eagle for size reference.
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