I have been lucky enough lately to be in contact with two people who allowed me to use their words and pictures to tell the story of a plane.
Obviously it’s about a PBY Catalina. More precisely, a PBY-6A, whose lineage was shrouded in mystery.

In the city of Villavicencio, Colombia, airport code VVC, resides one of the few surviving Catalinas in the world. Her story would make good material for a movie, if movies today were about a story and not special effects.

You can read it here.

With many thanks to Javier Franco Topper and Michael S. Prophet.

When I initially looked around and eventually settled for the SKA 350ER, I knew about DC-3 conversions and I had read about Dodson’s Turbo Dak, but I discarded it as the range was not sufficient for my (inexistent, I know) needs. However, I recently came across more than a conversion, pretty much a complete rebuild of the plane, so much that they don’t call it a DC-3, they call it a Basler BT-67.

As I understand it, a DC-3 single-pilot type rating would be ok to fly this bird. Also, with the optional ferry tanks you can get over 2,000 nm range. And it looks fantastic to boot.

If it really can be flown SP, I’m sold.

This week-end’s race has been the coda to an epic week on many levels.

When I got home and unloaded my SD card, I realized I had taken 456 pictures. In the space of like 6 hours over the two days. Thanks to burst mode for fast snapshots! I’d say about 100-150 or so are actually good enough to be posted here, I’m still sorting through them. I also have about about 1h40 of HDV footage that I have to edit and although I didn’t bring the tripod and it’s a tad shaky-camy in places (hey it’s aerobatics!), I’m pretty happy with the raw results.
I’ll post the vids on YouTube when it’s done.

Yep. Right now I’m Barneyfied, everything’s awesome, and this weekend was LEGEN-wait for it…

DARY!

I just stumbled upon this magnificently preserved Grumman G-73 Mallard, J34:

©2009 Mallard Aviation

Like the Cat there are around thirty-ish of these still airworthy, and unlike the Cat some were converted to turboprop, and this is one of them. First flight in 1948! It even flew around the world a couple of times… Its history is fascinating, you can read it at Mallard Aviation.

The range is shortish and I still prefer the Cat but that’s a damn fine piece of aircraft if I ever saw one. Beautiful! I wonder how much they ask for it…

©2003 Mike Fizer

Probably the most beautiful biplane ever made.

It’s been a good season. I haven’t written much but I spent hours spec’ing dream projects, sometimes in excruciating details. Kind of like Phineas and Ferb, minus the actual construction. And without a platypus.

I’m funny like that.

- First, in July, I dusted off my old drawing folders and draw new blueprints for a house. My dream house. I scrapped it all and recreated a shiheyuan-style courtyard home that is really, really cool (honestly, it is). I finally resolved the roof problem, I couldn’t get one that worked before. Now I’m pretty much done, at last. (I started fiddling with this in 1998) In fact I plan to bring it to an actual architect to make real building plans one of these days, even if I haven’t quite decided where to build it yet. It’s a tie between the Big Sur area in California and the Akaroa region in New Zealand. Hehe.

- After the house, I looked up and saw the sky and remembered how much I loved planes so I drafted a plan to resurrect the Latécoère 300 seaplane for a world tour. Then as you remember I decided it was too far-fetched and just picked several options out of existing planes: the PBY and the Super King Air. The result is, I now have a complete itinerary to follow regardless of the model.
It breaks my heart to see so many of the surviving PBY in museums. These machines are made to fly, not sit in the dust waiting for the end to come. Anyway.

- Finally, branching from my Laté 300 delusion, I get a realistic (though unlikely) plan for some PBY restorations that would go beyond mere conservation.

I have to explain.

I started my Laté 300 idea from the fact that a Dornier 24 is still flying around nowadays, however, I overlooked the fact that this is in big part due to the plane actually surviving enough time to be restored, and… there are no surviving Laté 300 anywhere. Yes, you can call Captain Obvious now. However, the important detail about this Do24 is that it was restored with turboprops. That meant it was possible to fit modern engines in an old airframe.

So I dug around the internet and found out about a fantastic conversion by Dr Forrest Bird: the “Bird Innovator”. It’s a PBY Catalina converted to quad-engine, with two smaller engines supporting the main powerplants. More importantly, the engineer’s post was moved to allow for single-pilot operation.

© Andy Martin

Brilliant.

So I wonder: Would it be possible to take off from there and convert a Cat to turboprop. Kind of a “Innovator Special”, if you will. 2x PT6A-67A for the main powerplants, and 2x PT6A-6 for the secondary ones. Combined with a modernized cockpit, possibly glass. A clipper bow of course. And more efficient “Super Cat”-style rudder and better wings.

I’m sure it could be done. After all, isn’t that exactly what Antilles Seaplanes is doing with their revamped Antilles G-21G “Super Goose”?

There are three Cats for sale right now according to the Catalina Society. I’d love to get my hands on them and start working on that. The result would be an evolution of the Cats to true 21st century amphibs: modern avionics, fuel-efficient powerplants, long-range…

*sigh*
Reality is so uncool.

For all the dream schemes I make up, I’m never too fond of jets. Not because they’re not cool, but all the cool ones are either non-existent (the ATG Javelin was a flying Porsche, sadly the company folded) or they’re simply not single-pilot (the Citation X is awesome in all other aspects). See, I like single-pilot. Circumstances have left me not used to having company. I’m used to being alone. I travel alone. I drive alone. Don’t think I never think it sucks, it does sometimes, but that’s the way it is for the time being. So I know there’d be a crew behind on the ground for support and stuff, but when it comes to the cockpit, I want to be in charge.

Anyways. To the point.

Imagine that: I found *the* jet. The long-range, trans-oceanic, single-pilot, biz jet. The one that didn’t exist. Well it does now. It’s called SJ30 by Emivest Aerospace. It flies 2,500 nm. It costs $8M.

Sure it’s kind of classic, not as radical as the Javelin, though the swept wings remind of the X. I’d still use prop planes for the Legendary World Fly-By, mind you, but this baby’d be right there at their side in the hangar. If there ever was a jet built just for my non-existent, filthy-rich twin, it’s that one.

<3

whatever beauty, joy and laughter I found in the sky…

*sigh*

Some might find it corny but I love this ad. It’s just perfect.

“… and once you have tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been, and there you long to return.”
- Leonardo da Vinci

Given that there are no long-range flying boats on the market , there’s the other kind: in terms of “classic” airframes, the Super King Air just very recently got a new version dubbed “350ER” for Extended Range.

This baby can fly anywhere. At 7 mil, it’s a bargain.

A few links of interest if you’re interested in solo flights tales and prep and all that stuff:
- earthrounders.com
- solo flights around the world

This is really something I’d like to do at some point. There are so few adventures left.

Since I was in the mood for intercontinental exploration and travels, I kept looking around for the next best thing. Now flying boats are cool, but what I found is even more awesome: a freaking AIRSHIP.

Not one of these old thingies that blew up at the first occasion, no, a modern one. The Aeroscraft ML866. Versatile, elegant… it’s amazing. It pretty much redefines the very notion of luxury flights.

Check out this beauty:

Speed Range 0-138 mph/0-222 kmh
Max Operating Altitude 0-12,000 ft/0-3,657 m
Max Range 3,100 mi/5,000 km
Overall Length 210 ft/64 m
Overall Width 118 ft/36 m
Overall Height 56 ft/17 m
Cabin Area 5,382 ft²/500 m²

The price must be astronomical but man this is seriously cool. Imagine touring the world in one of those, serenely hovering above the Amazon, Halong Bay or the Kilimandjaro… Short of a spaceship I can’t see how it could get any better than this.

I so want one. Now.

Dream on, take 2.

Okay, so there are only like 30 or so Catalinas left in the world that are more or less airworthy. It’s 1. super expensive and 2. a bitch to maintain. That’s because it’s also a flying legend, so it evens out I guess. I’d never forgive myself if I crashed one of these. Anyway, it is one of the very few long-range amphibious prop plane I know of that is in civilian service today. So what are the alternatives?

I mean, for the “round the world” flying dream thingy, long-range is a crucial spec. I reckon for such a project I’d need at least 4,000 km range. So I wouldn’t settle for less.

The G21 Goose and Grumman Albatross are also oldies that are kind of cool, but they don’t have the Catalina’s sex-appeal. The G-21 is currently being resurrected by Antilles Seaplanes with modern engines and avionics, but would still only have around 2,000 km max range. So the Albatross would be the only one with a similar range as the PBY, it can go up to 4,500 km. Interesting. To be continued.

The Dornier Seastar is new and sexy, but flies less than 2,000 km. I guess having a custom long-range version built would be akin to building a new aircraft so it’s not really a choice.

Following on this idea, I get my Laté 300 replica thing. Ideally would be build with Dornier, 4 engine long-range plane with a few mods to the original design: a clipper bow, PT6A-67A powerplants, and landing gear.
As I said, might as well design a new plane from the ground up, which is cost-prohibitive.

The Bombardier CL-415 is a purpose-built water bomber, it’s powerful but boxy and has limited range. Not an option.

The ShinMaywa US-2 is modern, powerful, has the necessary range… but it’s got no grace and would probably not handle bush-flying. It’s only used by the Japanese military anyway, no civilian use, so not an option.

Then there’s the Beriev Be-200ES. Sleek. Kinda long-range. But, it’s a jet. And I want prop or turboprop. So no go. Probably too expensive anyway. (Coz hey, even in dream I have a limited price range)

However, a visit to the Beriev site shows they are possibly developping a true successor to the Catalina: The Be-114. Big spacious cabin, amphibious, twin-prop and more importantly, 4,900 km range. It would apparently even have STOL capabilities thrown in for good measure, how’s that? It looks a bit boxy in the concept but I managed to find pics of an actual model of it (scroll down) and it does look pretty cool. Its little brother the Be-112 is also interesting, with the unusual engine configuration, but the range on that one is an unknown.

Pretty cool uh? Versatile, roomy, long-range and amphibious. If it’s certified for single-pilot operation, as a circumnavigating “flying yacht” it will be perfect.

I’m a nut for old airplanes. I love them, especially flying boats. My lifelong dream would be to fly around the world in a PBY Catalina. An even wilder dream would be to build a replica of the Laté 300, but I know it would take a miracle for that to happen.

And then I come accross a website like this. The guys at Spitfire Aircraft Co. build kits to help you make your own Spit fighter replica in your garage. A real one.

For reference, a Spitfire looks like this:

That’s awesome on so many levels. And I mean, literally. Flying this baby would make me cry with joy.

I think I got meself a new goal in life.