GlaStar on Zenair Floats

Written by Bill Bracken

Bracken Glastar on Zenair amphib floatsThis is my 2010 Glastar on Zenair amphibious floats which I completed over the last 18 months. The first flight took place on October 29, 2012.

Advertisement

This Glastar #5584 was completed in March of 2010. It is equipped with an ECI IO-360 (188hp), one Slick magneto, Lightspeed electronic ignition and fuel injection. Intake is a cool air scoop and a plenum. The instrument panel has a Dynon 100 and 180 with a Garmin 296 for navigation. I installed aux fuel tanks in the wings and fabricated header tanks.Bracken Glastar on Zenair amphib floats

As you can see it has a 3-color fuselage and vertical tail. The wings and horizontal stabilizer are polished aluminum. Thrust is from a 3-blade fixed pitch Catto prop. The amphibious floats were built from a Zenair 2200 kit over the past 18 months.

The tricycle gear airplane weighs in at 1304 lb and on the Zenair floats 1640 lb.

A high speed taxi was done on Oct 15th and had no bad ground handling tendencies while getting to 47 mph where the aircraft wanted to lift off.

Bracken Glastar on Zenair amphib floats

The first flight on the float wheels was on Oct 29–a climb to 3000’ AGL and then doing stalls and slow fight. I returned to the home airfield with one landing and logging 0.5 hrs. A noticeable yaw to the left was overcome with right rudder during takeoff and climb.

Bracken Glastar on Zenair amphib floats
Bill Bracken
Advertisement
Previous articleBug Plug
Next articleAre You a Test Pilot?
GAOA Members
Our members regularly send tips for publication on the GAOA website.