Renegade 270, the number standing for the amount of horsepower that is
being developed by the Lycoming TSIO-540 mounted up on the pod. For a basic
airframe that started with a 125-horse- power engine, the power is significant.
In flying and instructing in previous Lakes - Buccaneers, with a 200-hp
Lycoming - I never had the impression that they were underpowered, but after
flying the 270-hp model, there is no looking back. It is quite
a happy marriage of airplane and horsepower. More than that, too. The hull is
longer than the Buccaneer's and has been reshaped. The horsepower part tends to
relate to the airplane. The longer and better hull makes it a better boat.
The improvements that made a
Buccaneer into a Renegade were quite obvious in some lake flying in central
Florida. The surface wind was running 10 to 12 knots, not enough to make
whitecaps on the shallow lakes around Orlando but enough to get the waves up.
If I had been flying a Buccaneer, I would have looked for protected
water near the edge of the lake. With the Turbo Renegade, we shot landings
(waterings?) in the middle of the lake where the waves were higher than I would
have taken in a Buccaneer.
Waves bother seaplane pilots because they beat up the airframe and they prompt porpoising, a term also used for landplanes and a term that takes on real meaning when, in a seaplane, elevator control gets out of phase with the wave action. Seas can just get too high as well, and if you remember the World War 11 stories about the Catalinas or other seaplanes water-taxiing hundreds of miles after a rescue, it was usually because the seas were too high for a takeoff. Converting an airplane to a boat is relatively simple because once you touch the water the drag is high and the stop is quick. Converting the boat back to an airplane takes a lot more distance and involves a lot more wave encounters, again because the drag is high.
The Renegade deals with
waves nicely. This day we were able to fly the seaplane onto the water (as
opposed to
making a full-stall touchdown, which you would do in rough water), and
after the first takeoff there was no porpoising at all. The drill on takeoff is
to give it the 270 horses, apply full back stick, and when the airplane rears
up out of the water, ready to get on the step, release back pressure until it
is running level on the water, on the step. If a wave induces a pitch change,
the way to deal with it is to virtually ignore it. The new hull shape tends to
damp pitch changes instead of accentuate them.
On landing, the same procedure works. Flare,
fly the airplane onto the water gently, power off, and as it slows and you feel
it start to enter the water as opposed to skimming across it, back stick, and
it stops with a nice splash.
On the surface, all the Lake amphibians are
more like motorboats. Airplanes with floats are more like sailboats, and while
I like sailboats a lot more than motorboats, I also appreciate the Lake's
surface handling qualities. Step-taxiing is a lot of fun, rather like roaring
about in a fine motorboat.
