The MMAG Seeking to Bring The Russian Tupolev "AS-2" Aerosleigh Amphibian To Miami

With an already established business, technical and personal relationship with the Beriev Design Bureau of Russia, the world leader in Hydro-Aviation, the MMAG is seeking to establish yet another relationship with the Russian aerospace manufacture known as Tupolev, which has developed a product known as the "AS-2" that could have great potential here within the South Florida / Miami Market.

AS-2 airsleigh-amphibian is the third generation of the airsleigh built by TUPOLEV DB. When creating the AS-2, Tupolev utilized their rich experience of designing and operation of previous sleighs. This has allowed Tupolev to create a unique vehicle which meets all current requirements to the vehicles of such class. The MMAG has begun preliminary dialog with Tupolev via channels which have been established by Beriev.

With a 1st quarter 2008 planned visit to Moscow, the MMAG anticipates having face to face conversation with the Tupolev Design Bureau to both demonstrate and introduce the business potential of such waterborne-land vehicles with capabilites in recreational, law-enforcement search & rescue and enviromental control and monitoring.

Miami, The Key Consideration For The Italian Job Into Latin America In The 1940's, The CANT Z.511

The Cantz 511 Long Range Cargo Hydroplane was first designed by Fillipo Zappata. The first flight took place in Monfalcone (Trieste, north-eastern Italy) in October 1940. It's first operational start took place in February 1942 (Italian territory).
The phase of study for the construction of this huge four-engined, double-floated hydroplane (the largest of its category in the world) started at the end of September 1937, when the technical department of CRDA accepted the order of Compagnia Ala Littoria, who requested a long range hydroplane for mail, cargo and passengers link with Latin America via and with stop over into Miami, Florida. After two years of hard work, the project manager Filippo Zappata and his team were ready with the first prototype.

On January 1942, the hydroplane had to be employed on different long range routes, as the war against the United States prevented the civil use of CANTZ511.

Miami and the Grumman F4F-3S "Wild CatFish" Project

MMAG Research: Due to the successful use of fighter seaplanes by Japanese forces in the Pacific, in 1942 Grumman experimented with a new development of its F4F-3 Wildcat, in the creation of a floatplane version of this fighter. The conversion of a standard production aircraft was undertaken by Edo Corporation in the space of three months from the Navy request being made; the floats themselves were specially designed for the "Wild Catfish", as this prototype became known, and the entire airframe was subjected to stress analysis and some strengthening.

To compensate for the decreased yaw stability resulting from the extra side area of the floats forward of the aircraft center of gravity, additional rudder area was required, and this was provided by fitting small additional surfaces at the tips of the tailplane, with an interconnection with the main rudder. The F4F-3 floatplane, sometimes referred to as the F4F-3S, first flew on February 28, 1943. With the Grumman Factory being located in Long Island, New York and subjected to the winter month conditions of the Northeast, the U.S. Navy sent the sole F4F-3S prototype to Miami, Florida for continued year around water testing.

The F4F-3S arrived into the Watson Island Sea Plane base in March of 1943, were numerous test flights were undertaken and waterborne operational techniques were established, but the changing nature of the war in the Pacific made it unnecessary to proceed with further floatplane conversions, and the project was canceled. Subsequently, the aircraft was trucked from the Watson Island Sea Plane base to Naval Air Station "Miami", present day Opa Locka Airport, were it was stored for a short while and then dismantled and trucked back to Long Island, New York.

Wipaire, Home of The Floats, MMAG 2007 Visit

MMAG Report: During the Summer of 2007, the MMAG had the exclusive pleasure of visiting the Wipaire facility located at Fleming feild Airport (KSGS) in South St. Paul, MN. Having been able to fully tour the facility and meet with key indiviuals, we obtained a very detailed and informative two day introduction to the creation, maintenance and support of aircraft floats, as well as the rich history of Wipaire, Inc., a highly specialized aviation company.

Ben Wiplinger founded Wipline, Inc., (now known as Wipaire, Inc.) in 1960. Ben began working in aviation in the 1940’s converting military aircraft to civilian executive aircraft at Fleming Field. This modification and repair business, known as “Wiplinger Aircraft Service” brought him into contact with floatplanes. After seeing room for improvement in existing aircraft floats, and being denied a dealership for the existing brand, he was compelled to design his own. He designed and built his first set of floats in 1960 and “Wipline” was born.

Ben sold his first set of floats to Ontario Central Airlines in 1962. Many innovative ideas went into these new floats including a patented process for replacing large quantities of rivets with a structural film adhesive greatly reducing water drag and assembly time. He eventually designed a landing gear retraction system that remains the standard of the float industry to this day.

Ben’s son, Bob, eventually joined in the effort, recognizing the need to provide quality maintenance for customers’ floats and aircraft alike. As an aeronautical engineer, he also made contributions to continuing the quality design reputation of Wipline. In 1974, all float manufacturing and aircraft servicing operations came together as Wipaire Inc.

Over the years, Wipaire has developed a full line of aircraft floats for all sizes of aircraft from a Piper Cub to a DeHavilland Twin Otter as well as over 100 Supplemental Type Certificates for a variety of useful aircraft modifications.

Miami Company Adds Life To A North Carolina Group Remanufacturing The Famed Grumman G-21 "Goose"

The idea for the Goose came in 1936, when a group of wealthy industrialists, wanted an easier way to commute from their homes on Long Island to the financial district of Wall Street. They commissioned Roy Grumman to build ten airplanes that could take off from their private air strips and land on the water near the financial district. By the end of World War Two, nearly 350 Gooses (they are never referred to as Geese) had been built.
After the war, most of the G-21’s were absorbed into the civilian market. The Goose saw widespread service with small passenger airlines in the Caribbean , California , Alaska , and around the world. Until 1970, there were enough Gooses to meet market demand. By the early eighties however, the supply of Gooses had begun to dry up due to a lack of spare parts and people experienced with seaplane maintenance and operations. By 1990, only a small number of G-21 aircraft remain. While the number of Gooses declined, the market for seaplanes that can operate from land or water has increased with time. Antilles Seaplanes, LLC has seized this lucrative opportunity and is the only company in the world that can satisfy the demand for this unique airplane.
When Grumman Aircraft stopped providing spare parts and technical support for the Goose, Dean Franklin Aviation Enterprises in Miami bought the existing spare parts inventory from Grumman. For more than 50 years, that company had a monopoly on Goose parts and expertise. Now, Antilles Seaplanes has obtained from Dean Franklin all of the remaining spare parts and complete technical and engineering documentation for the Goose and is poised to hatch a whole new generation of this venerable classic.

Once Miami Based Aircraft Fly's On As The Worlds Only Airworthy DC-3 On Floats

This DC-3 example above is construction number (c/n) 11761 and was delivered to the USAAF in July of 1943. Now registration N130Q, a DC-3A/C-53D-DO (was 41-68834) of Folsoms Air Service based in Maine, USA. It is one of the only DC-3 on floats still flying today. The floats are the original EDO (28) Corporation type. She flew for Eastern Airlines as NC86562 mainly based out of Miami until 1952. It was converted to a float plane by Dick Folsom in 1976. The experimental type certificate for this aircraft was awarded in September 1990 and the first flight took place at Greenville airport at that time.

The Edo Corporation, of College Point, N.Y. designed, and built twin, 1-ton floats, (the largest floats ever built). Each float was 42 feet long, five feet, eight inches wide, and displaced 29,000 pounds of water. The cellular construction of each float had 14 separate water-tight compartments. Each float also had a 325 gallon fuel tank. The floats had fully retractable, hydraulic wheels, and could land on water, snow or land. The float rudders were connected to the air rudder.

The MMAG To Bring It From Down Under in 2008

With our constant International expansion and solicitation efforts to make the City of Miami the capital of the seaplane / amphibian world aircraft industry sales, the MMAG in dialog with X-Air of Australia anticipates in being a U.S. representative for X-Air, thus establishing an X-Air market presence for the South Florida, Caribbean and Latin American markets based here in Miami by 2nd quater of 2008.

The Beriev Be-200 Multirole Amphibian Aircraft

MMAG Excluesive:Having had the pleaure to have met and converse in detail with the Be-200 lead designer, Mr. Vladimir V. Ignatenko (shown above) the MMAG has learned the following. The Beriev Be-200 is an amphibious multirole turbofan aircraft designed by the Berieva Aviatsionnyi Kompaniya (Beriev Aviation Company), with the Russian Irkutsk Aircraft Production Association (IAPO) responsible for the production engineering development phase of the program. The first flight took place in 1998 and the aircraft was first seen in the west at the 1999 Paris Air Show.
IAPO (now part of the Irkut Corporation) and EADS signed a memorandum of understanding in May 2002 to jointly carry out a market study and to define the conditions and costs of international certification and the logistics of setting up a worldwide after-sales service.
The study was completed in July 2003 and the two companies, with Rolls-Royce Deutschland, plan to obtain Western certification and offer the aircraft for Western markets. It is planned to power the aircraft with Rolls-Royce BR715 engines. I trully look foward to seeing the B-200 in action at next year 2008 Hydr0-Aviation Airshow in Russia.

Maritime Aviation, It All Started In France

In The Beginning: The first seaplane was invented in March 1910 by the French engineer Henri Fabre. Its name was Le Canard ('the duck'), and took off from the water and flew 800 meters on its first flight on March 28, 1910. These experiments were closely followed by the aircraft pioneers Gabriel and Charles Voisin, who purchased several of the Fabre floats and fitted them to their Canard Voisin airplane. In October 1910, the Canard Voisin became the first seaplane to fly over the river Seine, and in March 1912, the first seaplane to be used militarily from a seaplane carrier, La Foudre ('the lightning').

MMAG Hosted the Russian Beriev Design Bureau 2007 Miami Visit In Support of Miami Be-103, N13KL

Miami Dec 2007: Mr. Robbie Peres of Sea Planes of Key West and Founder of Sea Planes of Miami along with Mr. Benny Benitez of the MMAG / 94th AeroClaims-Aviation Consulting Group, hosted a technical delegation visit from the Russian Beriev Design Bureau, a world leader in Hydro-Aviation design and manufacturing to Miami.

The seven day visit by Beriev was primarily focused to establish technical and personal ties between the Design Bureau and the above organizations and individuals, so as to support the operation and proper upkeep of the sole Beriev Be-103 operating within Miami and establish the ground work for future joint projects into the region.

With only three Be-103 operating within the United States (N13KL, N30KL, & N29KL) both Robbie, Benny as well as Mr. Richard Osborne (Be-103 Pilot) liaised and established excellent communication and relationship with the Beriev personnel, thus beneficial to the technical care of the three U.S. / Beriev airframes.

The visit also laid the preliminary ground work for both Benny and Richard to visit the Beriev facility in Russia during the early part of 2008, so as to ascertain factory certification in the Be-103, as well to get initial technical and operation exposure to Beriev bigger project, the Be-200, the world only jet power amphibian aircraft in operation.

The MMAG to Introduce the Piper Aztec On Floats to Miami in 2008

The Miami Maritime Aviation Group (MMAG) announces the Aztec Nomand, Inc. exciting new aircraft that leaves the competition far behind. The incredible Aztec Nomad, available on straight or amphibious floats offers MORE. More useful load, speed, rate of climb, range, comfort, safety and value. If you have ever flown a Piper Aztec, you will understand the outstanding performance of this rugged aircraft. It is no surprise that when floats are installed, the remarkable performance continues. Recent modifications including 3 foot wing extensions, vortex generators, seaplane propellers and a 500 lb. increased gross weight have made the Aztec Nomad even more impressive. Stall speed a meagre 49 KTS; rate of climb 950 ft/min; cruise 135 KTS for up to 7 hours; all this with an 1800 lb. useful load on amphibs. and 2200 lbs. on straight floats. This is a true six place aircraft.
We are convinced there is nothing that compares to the Aztec Nomad. In 2008, the (MMAG) hopes to have the opportunity to show demo flight in Miami as we expand and establish our relationship with Aztec Nomand, Inc.

Pan American World Airways "Sikorsky's" at Dinner Key

Dinner Key History: From 1933-1945, Dinner Key in Coconut Grove (Miami), Florida was Pan American Airways Latin American Hub for its Flying Boat fleet. Dinner Key was so named because many families used to come out and have picnic dinners and watch the Sikorsky’s, Martin’s, and Boeing’s leave for exotic ports. In 1950, the terminal became Miami’s City Hall with the surrounding area becoming a marina.

Today two of the four former Pan Am maintenance hangers belong to Grove Key Marina. The tracks used to tow the Clippers out of the water are still visible today, still devoid of rust, in the boat basin to the right of the main terminal. Inside and out, the City Hall still posses wonderful Pan Am iconography.

Dinner Key is in the Coconut Grove section of Miami, Florida, adjacent to Biscayne Bay, at 25°43′41″N, 80°14′05″W. It was originally an island, but was connected to the mainland in 1914 by filling in the intervening space. An early source attributes the name to the fact that the island was a convenient place to stop to eat while traveling by boat between the mouth of the Miami River and the "Hunting Grounds" south of Miami.
A United States Naval Air Station was established on Dinner Key in 1917. The Air Station was closed shortly after the end of World War I and taken over by commercial operators. The Navy return to Dinner Key during World War II, operating there from 1943 until 1945.
Dinner Key served as a base for Pan American World Airways' flying boats during the 1930s and 1940s. It was one of the world's largest airports and the main hub for air traffic between North and South America. After the technological advances of World War II and the construction of suitable airports in South America made seaplanes largely obsolete, Pan Am transferred its operations to Miami International Airport.
The United States Coast Guard operated an Air Station at Dinner Key from 1932 until 1965, when operations were transferred to the Opa-locka Airport. The former barracks and mess building were added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on August 10, 1995.
One of Pan Am's hangars was used for many years as an exhibition hall and auditorium, the Dinner Key Auditorium. This was the site of the incident in 1969 in which Jim Morrison of the Doors was arrested for exposing himself to the audience. On December 19, 2002, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Today, Dinner Key is used primarily as a marina. Three of Pan Am's original four hangars remain in use for boat storage. The old Pan Am terminal building has served as the Miami City Hall since 1954. It was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on February 20, 1975.

It All Started With Seaplanes, Smuggling and Booze

The airline was founded by Arthur "Pappy" Chalk, and started ad-hoc charter operations as the Red Arrow Flying Service in 1917. After "Pappy" Chalk served in the Army Air Corps in World War I, he returned to Miami and commenced scheduled service between Miami and Bimini in the Bahamas in February 1919 as Chalk's Flying Service. During prohibition, Chalk's was a major source of smuggling alcohol from the Bahamas to the United States.
Chalk's first base was a beach umbrella on the Miami shore of Biscayne Bay. In 1926 a landfill island, Watson Island, was created in Biscayne Bay close to Miami. Chalk's built an air terminal there, and operated from the island for the next 75 years. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the company had to relocate operations due to concerns about port security. Chalk continued to be involved in the daily operations of the airline until he retired in 1975. He died in 1977 at the age of 88.