NEW AMPHIBIAN FLIES

14 May 2009

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Gweduck
The Ellison 'Gweduck' amphibian makes its first flight. It's a big aircraft with six seats, above right .

A NEW twin-engine amphibian loosely based on the famous Grumman Widgeon has made its first flight.

The aircraft is the Gweduck (pronounced "Gooey Duck"), designed, developed and built by American Ben Ellison. He's been working on the project since the early 1990s and admits, "You probably thought it would never happen... but after nearly two decades of effort the Gweduck has finally taken to the air!"

Buzz Nelson and Ross Mahon were the test pilots and took the aircraft up for its first and second flights on the first weekend in May 2009. The first flight on Saturday was short, one trip around Lake Washington, climbing to 1,500ft under grey skies.

"On Sunday the airplane flew again, this time with sunny weather, blue skies and the confidence of knowing that the airplane worked," says Ben. "More flight testing was completed including flap position changes, retracting the wing tip floats, and generally exploring the flight envelope. Water take-off and landing behavior was excellent.

"As with any new design a few areas for improvement exist but overall the airplane flew well and gave us a great sense of satisfaction."

The Gweduck design project was started as an attempt to build a composite Widgeon to eliminate the extensive corrosion and maintenance problems so common to the 40+ year old design. Over time the project developed into a ground-up redesign of a completely new aircraft that combines the knowledge and experience of 1940/50s flying boat designs with modern composite construction, and the latest in aerodynamic and hydrodynamic technologies.

A video of the aircraft flying can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NakXEfQcibc

FAST FACTS
Cruise 135kt at 65% power/3000ft (est)
Wingspan 48ft
Wing area 295sq ft
Length 32.5ft
Height 10.8ft
Seats 2 pilots, 4 pax
Cabin width 54in
Engines 2 x Lycoming IO-540
Prop MT, 3-blade, constant-speed, feathering, reversing
Design Gross Weight 6,000lb
Useful load 1,800lb
Fuel capacity 200 USG

W: www.gweduck.com