Mike Martin
A fresh concept in amphibious aircraft will be unveiled at Farnborough '98.
The six-seat Centaur is said by its designer to have resolved key issues associated with amphibians.
"The evolution of amphibians over the last 30 to 50 years has tended to show certain drawbacks," says James Labouchere, Centaur's designer and chairman and managing director of Warrior Aircraft.
"They tend to have heavy, broad planing surfaces and they have a drag problem. Their floats tend to be tin and rivets and that means corrosion problems."
With a one-fifth scale model undergoing testing, the Warrior team, based in southern Britain, is at Farnborough to discuss progress on the project and sound out potential sources of finance to build a full-size model.
Although Labouchere trained as an aeronautical engineer, it was his experience as a marine architect working on super-slim yacht hulls which contributed to the original design of Centaur.
Novel features include:
Slender yacht-inspired hull
Folding wing
Composite construction materials
The slender hull concept achieves high speeds in displacement mode and does not encounter a drag "hump" as it starts to plane.
The result is a hull with "substantial reductions" in hydrodynamic shock-loading, structural weight, and drag (hydrodynamic and aerodynamic).
The problem of operating amphibians in waterside facilities is overcome by the folding wing. Centaur uses a mechanism, extant since the 1930s, to allow folding of the wing to within the beam of the sponsons that are mounted on the low stub wings extending from the cockpit.
In folded mode, Centaur can access most 12m boat handing facilities. A rear-mounted waterjet is used for manoeuvring in tight spaces such as marinas.
To reduce corrosion, Centaur uses composite construction materials used in both aircraft and yachts.
The aircraft's tractor engine is positioned aloft to give maximum flexibility and space in the cabin. Provision is being made for both Continental IO-550 and Lycoming IO-540 normally aspirated and turbo-charged powerplants of 200-230kw (380-310h) to offer a wide range of performance requirements.
Warrior expects to take deposits soon for aircraft at $500,000 to $600,000 depending on equipment. Delivery of the first aircraft is expected to be within four years of securing full funding. Certification will be under JAR23 rules.
Labouchere says that extensive market research suggests that there are 6,800 seaplanes in the Centaur category, with many designed in the 1950s. He foresees a range of roles for Centaur, from the leisure and freight and passenger transport through to many specialist roles such as air ambulance.
"Current seaplane operators are frustrated by inadequate payload range, lack of access to waterside facilities, poor wave handling and high cost of ownership as a result of direct costs and corrosion issues," says Labouchere. "We have spent a lot of time addressing these issues."
Source: Flight Daily News
