watch this video and tell me what on earth happened to this plane

[tigisfat]

I have no idea. I've never heard of floats sinking.....

xYFFHsWrCcc

[OBIO]

It looks like he had his landing gear extended, which would have acted like brakes in the water...and the dumb butt kept trying to taxi in that condition and repeatedly ran his prop into the water.

[tigisfat]

I saw an unvalidated comment that might lend a clue:

It said if the engine fails after or during water scooping, you're gonna turn into a submarine. I'd like to think that if they use the pontoons fore water storage, that there'd be no way to fill them so full that the airplane sinks, but there's been dumber engineering out there...

[Willy]

Too much airplane and not enough float?

[JoeW]

At the first of that movie .... the front gear are not extended. Maybe he hit a log or beer cans ...... We will have to see the bottom of the floats.

[srgalahad]

I saw an unvalidated comment that might lend a clue:

It said if the engine fails after or during water scooping, you're gonna turn into a submarine. I'd like to think that if they use the pontoons fore water storage, that there'd be no way to fill them so full that the airplane sinks, but there's been dumber engineering out there...

First of all, the FireBoss does not use the floats for storage. It uses an 800 gal internal hopper. The water pickups are in the floats just ahead of the main wheel wells and then feed up the large rear strut to the tank. Watching the whole video shows the single-point dump from the hopper.
v/hXGM1Jrf0_M
Numerous passes, pick-ups and drops before the final landing. Two possibilities I can see:
1. As OBIO says the gear may partially extended which would cause the nose-down pitch on application of power but I can't see any difference in the front gear position throughout the video ( and it extends noticeably -forward and then down), or
2. the water pick-up probes were deployed after what seems to be a normal landing, acting like anchors having the same effect as (1.)

It is also possible that a probe malfunction may have cause leakage into the floats - right at the end with power off the floats appear to be riding a bit low but not submerged.

Floats DO sink.. as would your canoe if it had a hole in it...

[Willy]

So this is a factory job? I was thinking along the lines of Bubba hanging a set of floats onto a crop duster to make a float plane. Leaking floats would be my guess then, although what are the odds of both floats springing a leak at the same time?

[Clarke123]

Well this is what happens when you try to land with gear down


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJecwgXNBtU

[Brian_Gladden]

So this is a factory job? I was thinking along the lines of Bubba hanging a set of floats onto a crop duster to make a float plane. Leaking floats would be my guess then, although what are the odds of both floats springing a leak at the same time?

I made one for FS

<center>FS2004 (ACOF) - FS2004 General Aviation </center> <center>FS2004 Air Tractor 802-F Fire Tanker
</center> <center> [ Download (http://www.flightsim.com/kdl.php?fid=70061) | View (http://www.flightsim.com/zview.php?cm=list&fid=70061) ] </center>
Name: at802fb.zip (http://www.flightsim.com/kdl.php?fid=70061) Size: 3,269,397 Date: 11-15-2003 Downloads: 2,177
http://www.flightsim.com/i/at802fbp.gif http://www.flightsim.com/i/at802fb.gif FS2004 Air Tractor 802-F Fire Tanker. The AT-802 series is the world's largest single engine aircraft, and its popularity reflects the industry's trend to larger high-production turbine equipment. Whether it's used for fertilizing forests, spraying huge cotton fields, or spraying dispersant on oil spills, this plane has the productivity and performance to get big jobs done efficiently. Reflecting state-of-the-art technology in computerized fire gate controls, the AT-802F is an ideal initial attack fire fighter with the ability to get to fires quickly and the maneuverability to put them out accurately and efficiently. The reliability of the turbine engine, low maintenance and operating costs, ruggedness and safety features make it an excellent choice for fire fighting. This flightsim aircraft features dynamic shine, reflective textures, full moving parts, custom 2D panel, working VC and a repaint kit. Aircraft, textures and panel by Brian Gladden.


It is indeed a factory job. This FS project came about as a request from the son of an Air tractor Sales rep that wanted to have the planes in FS that his dad was selling. It almost turned into a factory sponsored project but it didn't pan out.


Brian

[srgalahad]

So this is a factory job? I was thinking along the lines of Bubba hanging a set of floats onto a crop duster to make a float plane. Leaking floats would be my guess then, although what are the odds of both floats springing a leak at the same time?

http://www.conair.ca/?action=conair_main&page_id=4300
http://www.airtractor.com/Default.aspx?p=5967

[PRB]

Ok, there is something pretty darned funny about using a boat for "water storage"... That's like one of them euphemisms for a sunken boat!

[aeromed202]

Having been around boats half my life it looks like the floats were partly full of water. They are essentially hulls that have drain cocks like any boat. A plausible scenario is that on landing hard the cocks came out or a crack opened up. If he was taxiing long enough they would fill and eventally sink. This plane, now a boat, has that characteristic fore and aft slosh movement that only a large liquid mass can make. I don't know if floats have water baffels inside. His only hope is to beach it at a steady speed and maybe buy a new prop.