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As noted in the article, the plane had been modified with far more than just the STOL kit. > A further issue was that his Cessna 185 had been extensively modif

As noted in the article, the plane had been modified with far more than just the STOL kit. > A further issue was that his Cessna 185 had been extensively modified. The addition of floats, cargo pack, short take-off and landing kit and a three-blade propeller had never had their combined effect documented. That’s a lot of things that modify the flight characteristics of a plane, all interacting together in what seems to be a previously untested configuration. I can completely see how each individual modification might modify the planes flight characteristics in a well know manner. But I struggle to see how anyone could realistically predict the result of all the modifications without some basic empirical testing.

dramm 2y ago
A three bladed prop modification along with floats is very common. Wipaire, the leading float manufacturer has its own STC for that. In combination with STOL kits is not uncommon either. I expect the Robinson STOL STC explicitly accommodates floats (Wipaire’ STOL STC sure do) but not sure since I don’t have the paperwork in front of me. You are over inflating issues here. Are you a pilot? The issue here is straight up incompetent operation of an aircraft. Operating a floatplane and separately operating with a STOL kits can increase complexity and risks especially when aircraft are mishandled/abused like here with an incompetent pilot who does not know what they are doing. You don’t need to dream up issues from combination of stuff here, the simple linear addition of issues was more than enough for an incompetent pilot to get into trouble, and seems they are lucky they did not get into more trouble before, and lucky they were not killed. The C185 is a beautiful well behaved workhorse used extensively in bush and floatplane flying, often with multiple STCs to upgrade these aircraft.
- michaelt 2y ago
  I get what you're saying, and I agree this sounds like operator negligence to me. But the article does say that investigators had to get another aircraft set up with the same modifications and fly it around with bits of wool all over it in order to understand the stall characteristics. So I assume this plane setup isn't so widespread that its stall behaviour is common knowledge.

dramm 2y ago

A three bladed prop modification along with floats is very common. Wipaire, the leading float manufacturer has its own STC for that. In combination with STOL kits is not uncommon either. I expect the Robinson STOL STC explicitly accommodates floats (Wipaire’ STOL STC sure do) but not sure since I don’t have the paperwork in front of me. You are over inflating issues here. Are you a pilot? The issue here is straight up incompetent operation of an aircraft. Operating a floatplane and separately operating with a STOL kits can increase complexity and risks especially when aircraft are mishandled/abused like here with an incompetent pilot who does not know what they are doing. You don’t need to dream up issues from combination of stuff here, the simple linear addition of issues was more than enough for an incompetent pilot to get into trouble, and seems they are lucky they did not get into more trouble before, and lucky they were not killed. The C185 is a beautiful well behaved workhorse used extensively in bush and floatplane flying, often with multiple STCs to upgrade these aircraft.

michaelt 2y ago
I get what you're saying, and I agree this sounds like operator negligence to me. But the article does say that investigators had to get another aircraft set up with the same modifications and fly it around with bits of wool all over it in order to understand the stall characteristics. So I assume this plane setup isn't so widespread that its stall behaviour is common knowledge.