Are seaplanes still used for commercial purposes , I am talking about
planes with capablity of carrying at least 40 passengers. If there are
such planes what are their speed compare to Jet Planes (for example
compare to Boeing 767), are they reliable (quantity of malfunctions or
accidents), what are their prices (more or less) ? and are they still
mnufactured ?

SAMI

"Sami" > wrote in message
om...
> Are seaplanes still used for commercial purposes , I am talking about
> planes with capablity of carrying at least 40 passengers.

How about 17 passengers? Here is a link to an airline that uses seaplanes:
http://www.flychalks.com/mallard/seat.htm In fact, it claims o be the world's
oldest scheduled airline: http://www.flychalks.com/history/airline.htm

> If there are
> such planes what are their speed compare to Jet Planes (for example
> compare to Boeing 767),

Very slow compared to a 767


Vaughn

"Vaughn" > wrote in
:

>
> "Sami" > wrote in message
> om...
>> Are seaplanes still used for commercial purposes , I am talking about
>> planes with capablity of carrying at least 40 passengers.
>
> How about 17 passengers? Here is a link to an airline that uses
> seaplanes:
> http://www.flychalks.com/mallard/seat.htm In fact, it claims o be the
> world's oldest scheduled airline:
> http://www.flychalks.com/history/airline.htm
>
>> If there are
>> such planes what are their speed compare to Jet Planes (for example
>> compare to Boeing 767),
>
> Very slow compared to a 767
>
>
> Vaughn

There's also a company flying people in and out of TJIG into STT in a Twin
Otter fitted with some very cool and very big floats. :)

They operate out of a private seaplane base in the channel between TJIG's
runway and the ports area/Old San Juan.

There was also an attempt to resurrect the Grummans that used to operate as
Antilles Airlines some years ago, but the project didn't go anywhere. After
the aircraft were restored and prepared for service, the STT local
government gave exclusive rights to the seaplane base to some local
operator, who didn't last very long.

The other day I saw a bunch of pictures of the old Pan American seaplanes
that used to ply the routes in the Caribbean a very long time ago, Very
cool stuff too, worthy of its own exhibit at a national museum.

Juan

> snip <
> The other day I saw a bunch of pictures of the old Pan American seaplanes
> that used to ply the routes in the Caribbean a very long time ago.

That would be interesting to see- got a link??

(¯`·._.· £ãrrÿ ·._.·´¯)

17 passangers is not enough , for commercial uses we need at least 35-40 seats

SAMI

Your best bet would be the Be-200. Have no idea about the reliablity
or safety record of the type. But I believe it's the biggest
waterborne aircraft being built at the moment.

http://www.aeronautics.ru/archive/vvs/be200-01.htm

-j-

On 21 Sep 2004 16:30:38 -0700, (Sami) wrote:

>Are seaplanes still used for commercial purposes , I am talking about
>planes with capablity of carrying at least 40 passengers. If there are
>such planes what are their speed compare to Jet Planes (for example
>compare to Boeing 767), are they reliable (quantity of malfunctions or
>accidents), what are their prices (more or less) ? and are they still
>mnufactured ?
>
>SAMI

Sporty's pilot supply catalog had a really cool picture a couple of
years ago of a DC3 on floats. Don't have any idea what it was used
for, though.

"Larry" > wrote in message >...
> > snip <
> > The other day I saw a bunch of pictures of the old Pan American seaplanes
> > that used to ply the routes in the Caribbean a very long time ago.
>
> That would be interesting to see- got a link??
>
> (¯`·._.· £ãrrÿ ·._.·´¯)

"Corsairville" is a kind of fun book for those who enjoy this lost
golden age of air travel. Not great, but certainly above the average
Dr. Phil dreck that publishers ladle out these days:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0140253483/qid=1095875265/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-7598454-9462444?v=glance&s=books

-cwk.

"Larry" > wrote in
:

>
>> snip <
>> The other day I saw a bunch of pictures of the old Pan American
>> seaplanes that used to ply the routes in the Caribbean a very long
>> time ago.
>
> That would be interesting to see- got a link??
>
> (¯`·._.· £ãrrÿ ·._.·´¯)

No, but I am trying to get the person who owns the pics to lend them to me
so I can scan and post them. They're unique and rare pics, I think I may
have to lug my notebook and scanner to his home!

(Sami) wrote in
om:

> 17 passangers is not enough , for commercial uses we need at least
> 35-40 seats
>
> SAMI

You could always buy yourself one of those turboprop conversion DC-3's and
put some humungous floats on it...

Juan

PaulH wrote:
> Sporty's pilot supply catalog had a really cool picture a couple of
> years ago of a DC3 on floats. Don't have any idea what it was used
> for, though.

The DC-3 on floats still existed last year that I know
of personally. The owner used to keep it at the
Greenville Airport on Moosehead Lake in Maine during
the summer and at the Bangor Airport during the winter
where it could get its annual whenever the maintenance
people had time.

I have pictures of the plane if anyone is interested.


Lou.

"Lou Ramsay" > wrote in message
hlink.net...

> The DC-3 on floats still existed last year that I know
> of personally. The owner used to keep it at the
> Greenville Airport on Moosehead Lake in Maine during
> the summer and at the Bangor Airport during the winter
> where it could get its annual whenever the maintenance
> people had time.

I saw it (or one like it) at Sun-N-Fun a few years back. You could easily
park an SUV between the floats. Truly impressive! It was owned by the
missionary airline here in W. Palm Beach for a while. I understand that they
found the floats in the Bahamas somewhere and mated them with one of their
DC-3s.

Vaughn