Welcome to the Aquarius information page. My first airplane ride was not on a Boeing or even a land plane but in a Cessna 170 on floats from Lake of the Cherokees in Northeast Oklahoma.Since that time although I have earned my private ticket and insturment rating in a land plane and retired after 25 years as an aircraft structural designer and Liaison Engineer. I have yearned to return to water flying. I have looked down on the lakes and rivers and wished I could land there. In a seaplane they make ready-made emergency landing fields Look in a travel brochure and about 33% of the pictures are of a place where you could land a seaplane.

Many years later I earned my seaplane rating in a Piper Supercub on floats on the Colorado River. What an experience, 48 water takeoffs and landing in one day and we never climbed more than 2,000 feet above ground level.That is real flying!

For these and many other reasons I have undertaken the design and construction of an amphibian of my own design.There are easier ways to obtain an amphibian such as buying a Lake, Seabee, etc., building one from a kit or carving one from granite with your fingernails but I also wanted to express my own creativity.

Because I have a family, as do many other homebuilders, I chose to design and build a 4 place aircraft. Although speed is important safety, utility, and economy are paramount. It must be economical to buy and fly so it does not use a 300 horsepower engine but instead an engine of 160 to 200 horsepower Below is a 3D rendering of the computer model.

Docile handling decreases the chances of loss of control under pilot stress Simple systems decrease the chances of failure and easy access encourages good maintenance practices The ability to use almost any medium to large body of water as an emergency landing field without drowning is a great safety benefit. The STOL capabilities demanded of a seaplane result in a low stall speed greatly increasing the chances of survival. The cockpit of the Aquarius consists of 3 plies of Kevlar and Epoxy on each side of 1-inch foam and Graphite reinforcement to form a 30G virtual helmet around the occupants. 3-inch Temperfoam cushions in all seats provide energy absorption for spinal protection.

Due to its low center of gravity it is unlikely to flip even with landed gear down although I wouldn’t recommend trying it.Also, unlike a floatplane, which is most stable in the water upside down, a hull type amphibian can be maneuvered with far less danger of capsizing Sealed wings and extensive use of foam resist sinking but should a sinking become emanate each person is provided with an escape hatch directly overhead in the form of large opening windshields and windows used for normal access.

The “Samson Strut” running directly from the engine to the most probable point of impact at the nose can withstand a load of over 30 G’s preventing an intrusion by the engine in any survivable accident.This and the rest of the engine mount tripod form an excellent rollover structure. The removal of the engine from the nose frees this space up as 2 feet of energy absorbing crush space.

The location of the midwing means that in an accident you are not crashing on your fuel tanks as on a low wing aircraft and the wings are not over your head trying to come through the cockpit as in a high wing aircraft.

A partial span drooped leading edge cuff on the outboard wings makes the stall gentler and increases spin resistance.This is critical if porpoising or a skip lifts the nose too high during high-speed water operations. Professional analysts have completed the flutter analysis.

UTILITY

The ability to land on water is a tremendous asset to anyone who likes to hike, sightsee, commune with nature, camp, fish, hunt, scuba dive, visit a lakeside cabin, etc. As a 4-place airplane it can haul you and 3 friends or a family of 2 adults and up to 3 small children with 100 pounds of camping equipment almost anywhere. 45 inches of shoulder room and 42 inches of headroom make long trips comfortable. The rear seat headroom is the same as the front and there is adequate shoulder room for 2 adult males or 3 small children.

The 175-mph cruise speed and 1,000-mile range make for good cross-country performance with economy.

With its STOL capabilities, rugged landing gear, outsized wheels and tires it can be landed off-airport on land as well as on water.

The wings can be removed by one person and secured alongside the fuselage. A custom-made tow bar is the attached to the front and a light bar to the rear.In less than 10 minutes the aircraft is ready to be towed home on its own wheels (no trailer required).Maintenance and loading for a trip can be done at home.If the aircraft is incapacitated away from the home field it can be towed back to the home field or home.

If removal and securing of the wings is practical on the water the aircraft could be launched or docked like a small boat except that no trailer is required. Indeed, with its ability to taxi it is self-launching. On the water access to the nose and sponsons as fishing platforms could make this the world’s fastest Bass boat!

ECONOMY

As already mentioned the small engines the Aquarius uses are far more economical than larger engines because they not only burn less fuel but also often can burn the much cheaper auto gas.It is the low span and wing loading that permit the use of these engines on a 4-place amphibian. Towing allows buying auto gas at your local service station.Home storage saves hanger and tie down fees.The high cruising speed on moderate fuel burn further cuts fuel costs.

Simple systems require less maintenance and are cheaper and easier to build. Composite construction does not rot or corrode. The simple structure made possible by sandwich construction reduces parts count, construction time, and cost.

PERFORMANCE

Careful attention to drag reduction gives a good cruise speed.A low span loading increases the rate of climb on low horsepower. Because water is a very high drag surface most seaplanes use large amounts of flap deflection to lift from the water as soon as possible. This causes high induced drag because the flaps increase the lift only on the inboard portions of the wings shortening the effective span. Flaperons increase lift on the entire wing A large chord flaperon at a slight deflection has more lift than a small chord flaperon at a large deflection but less drag thus giving better takeoff performance.

The 20-degree deadrise of the V hull allows safe operation in rough water. The large spray rails decrease spray and water drag and get the hull on plain quicker.

The performance and specifications are summarized in the following table. A 3-view of Aquarius follows.

AQUARIUS PROGRESS

Aquarius is about 75% completed at this time.Most of the work remaining is on systems and the engine installation, which has not yet been started.Below is a collection of photographs (10/28/02) of my airplane as I am constructing it in my garage.Other photographs will be added as the project progresses.

Above we see 2 views of the foreword 75% of the Aquarius fuselage opened up for access. On the right is shown the instrument panel access available with the foreword hatch open and the dash panels removed. A bar through the instrument panel releases the hatch and the dash panels can be removed without removing any fasteners.This greatly eases installations and maintenance.Most of the “molted” look is due to micro fill and tests of finishing techniques.

On the left is the instrument panel that will be set up for daylight VFR operations only for the first few test flights.Upon completion it will be equipped for night IFR operations The center console is wide enough for an avionics stack. On the right we see the vertical stabilizer and tail cone (brown) and the rudder (black) behind me. The horizontal stabilizer and elevator are on the ground.

Above we see the front and rear accommodations.There is ample headroom for adults both front and rear At 5' 10" I am almost average in height. The pilot's seat can be tilted and the rudder peddles are adjustable.

The left photo shows the overall size of the airplane without the tail The wings are quite long (38 ft wingspan) but this photo exaggerates it.The right photo shows the access to the front and rear.

Above we see a 24-foot long by 38-foot span airplane being built in a 17.5 foot by 17.5-foot garage. The wings are stored under the table on the right and all of the other flight surfaces are stored in a backyard storage building.When it is time to install the engine the aircraft will be lowered onto a piece of sheet metal to allow sufficient headroom for the engine and pylon to be installed in this garage.The last step is to add the tail cone and vertical stabilizer as this will make the airplane too long for the garage and it will have to be finished in a hanger or larger workshop. The aircraft will be 95% completed in my garage.

FUTURE

I hope to have it finished and flight-tested in time to see you at Airventure 2004.

If it flies well and there appears to be enough interest I may start selling plans and/or materials kits for the Aquarius or go into kit production The kit would be sold in sub-assemblies consisting of the fuselage structure, control system, landing gear, wings, tail, engine mount, etc. so they could be purchased as your finances and time permit.

Thank you for visiting my information page.If you have questions or are building an original design airplane, or just want to discuss design, construction, amphibians, etc. please let us share notes and experiences by E-mailing me at aquariusplane@charter.net.