Airtest – DHC-2 Beaver Floatplane

De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver Floatplane

Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about on floats.

Had Kenneth Grahame known about seaplanes when he wrote Wind in the Willows that is what Toad would have said. Despite the performance penalties and useful load restrictions caused by their weight, over the years floats have been fitted to almost every type of single engined lightplane and many twins. Flying off water takes different and rather greater skill to simple ground bound aviation and, while sometimes slightly less practical, it is always immensely rewarding and much more fun.

Since getting my seaplane rating a dozen years ago I have become a complete convert to aquatic aviation. Having sampled many types of floatplane, my favourite of all by far is the De Havilland Canada Beaver.

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