GoPro – Airplane Waterskiing

[ScudRunner-d95]

[b]GoPro – Airplane Waterskiing[/b]

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Source: [url=http://frontpage.scudrunners.com/gopro- ... terskiing/]GoPro – Airplane Waterskiing[/url]

[David MacRay]

That seems like a bad idea...


Of course I mused about doing it back in the 1990s with a buddy. Probably good that I never got to the point of doing a float rating.

[ScudRunner-d95]

I noted they used an Ultralight probably with a very slow stall speed

[David MacRay]

Yes, I was thinking at the time, I would probably not be able to get beyond a high speed taxi in a Cessna on floats dragging my buddy across a lake.

[mosky]

Actually it is not an ultralight.  It's an amateur built aircam.  It requires a 'normal' license with a multi and float endorsement just like any other twin.  Crazy performance as it is overpowered on the two mills.  Will take off on a single engine on floats.  Stalls at 38 mph.  If you note on the video there are no waterskiis involved as the guy is barefoot so he's probably flying around 50 mph.  Guy flying is Richard Johnson who probably has more aircam hours than anyone else in the world.  He does checkouts, multi and float ratings down in Florida.  He did my checkout down there as i was building mine several years back. 
Ive got the only aircam registered in Canada and until you fly it you don't 'get' it and realize what a blast it is to fly.  Off the water in 5 seconds on amphibious floats and will land in crazy tiny piddles.  A bit spendy to buy but for local flying and playing around in lake country it can't be beat.
I just have to keep reminding controllers that it's NOT an ultralight.  Mine is registered at 2,100 pounds gross.


Google it and there are lots of videos out there on youtube


[youtube][/youtube]t=33s

[ScudRunner-d95]

Awesome, thanks for sharing.

Looks like a ton of fun, I never gave them a second look before.

[David MacRay]

I did not recognize it from the water skiing video but I recall seeing it in promotional videos the EAA sent out a year or two ago.

It looks pretty fun.

The important feature for pulling a water skier is it can fly at just over 30 mph. Maybe he did go faster in the video but he might not have. You're going to need 60 knots plus in a Cessna. Few water skiers are going to want to go that fast.