Continued
The training operation, although
it supports new and used sales by reduction of accidents and thus insurance
premiums, pays for itself. At $70 an hour (your airplane) or $200-$250
(theirs), it's not cheap, but it's the best Lake training available, and may be
the best seaplane training anywhere. If you just want to get a seaplane
endorsement on your private ticket, 7-10 hours is the norm at Lake. Most
seaplane endorsements, at the advertised, specialized schools run about four
hours, so for the added expense, you will get a little more training with your
Lake ticket and will be a better water pilot.
When you buy a new or used airplane from Lake, the
full course is included in the price, so you have to allow a week or so for the
training when you pick up your new pride-and-joy. By the time you leave the
factory, you have received more than the usual hour-long checkout-you have been
given the same sort of training that a corporate pilot gets from the manufacturer
of a business jet, and for the same reasons. It radically improves safety and
reduces insurance premiums.
Training operations are full-time in Kissimmee
and Renton, but seasonal in New Hampshire.
The policy of improving the
current design didn't stop with the Renegade, in addition to many other smaller
changes, a turbocharged version-the Turbo 250-was made available in 1988. The
excuse for our trip to Lake's Renton, Washington, facility was that the gross
of this model had been raised 90 pounds, and the horsepower upped to 270 since
our last visit with Lake in Laconia, New Hampshire ("Lake Turbo
Renegade," May 1988 PRIVATE PILOT).
Renton is a surprisingly metropolitan airport,
right on the shore of Lake Washington, with a diverse mix of traffic. A
seaplane base is part of the operation at the lake end, and Boeing has its 737
assembly plant at the other end, with Lake's facility-and many others-in
between. A ramp at the seaplane base allows amphibians to land on the water and
taxi onto the airport if they wish.
Lake's facility is about halfway
up the airport from the ramp, almost under the shadow of parked Boeing jets
waiting for paint jobs. Unlike Lake's facilities in New Hampshire and Florida,
which are off-airport-style, architecturally distinct stone buildings set in
park-like surroundings, the Renton facility is in a hangar, so it looks
different. The difference is only skin-deep, however, and once inside, the
Rivard style is evident, and it all seems very familiar.
We planned a short trip from
Renton to Lake Isabella, about 25 n.m. northeast of Renton, spectacularly
nestled in the mountains. Other than
by seaplane, the only access to the lake is by foot, a full day's hike up the mountains from sea level, so it is
really remote, which is a shock, only 10 minutes from urban Renton.
Although the weather was somewhat
doubtful, Lake Isabella's 3500-foot altitude was the perfect place to
demonstrate the 270's altitude performance, for although there is a general
performance improvement at sea level, discernible to the experienced Lake
pilot, it's at altitude that the change is really evident, even to the
neophyte.
One of the joys of owning an
amphibian is climbing into its sports-car interior, firing up the pusher
propeller, leaving the busy airport environment and plopping down on a remote
lake miles from every- where.
As we rolled down Renton's ramp
into the Lake Washington water, a combination of the wakes of the heavy boat
traffic and the wind made the surface particularly choppy, a true test of the
Renegade's strengthened hull.
At very close to full gross
weight, the hull came up on the step quickly, and after a brief but bumpy
takeoff run, we lifted into the air. The climb is noticeably improved; at gross
weight, the 270's time to its service ceiling of 20,000 feet is about 24 minutes,
down from the 250's 28 minutes. (The artificially low service ceiling is
determined by the certification regulations rather than the airplane's
capability.)
The cruise speed, at 20,000 feet and 75%
power, shows an 8-knot increase, to 155 knots true, not bad for an airplane
that can land on the water. Actually, it's a fabulous speed for an amphibian.
To set it in its proper
perspective, I'm currently the coholder of the absolute speed record for light
turbine amphibians. The record was set in a Cessna 206 with a 475-hp Allison
turbine conversion, mounted on Wipline amphibious floats. The record speed was
154.4 knots-and that was, as they say, pedal to the metal (and then some)!
The ceiling was about 4000 feet,
so we didn't do any altitude work on our Isabella flight; the altitude
performance figures quoted are from the factory.
Lake Isabella showed the Turbo 270
at its best. The water was neither too smooth or too rough, just about right,
as we slipped under the low stratus and descended. The takeoff was agile and
quick, in spite of the 3500-foot altitude.
The change in the Turbo 250's
engine that makes it a 270 is mostly in the paperwork and the turning of a
screw.
Once Armand Rivard decided to
upgrade the Renegade to the 270-hp configuration, he modified all previously
sold Turbo 250’s to the 270 specification at Lake’s expense, including the
required cowling changes but sans new paint.
There are no 250-hp Turbo Renegades.
The whole Lake operation, and the
people involved, reflect an interest in airplanes in general, and water flying
in particular. Perhaps that’s the greatest
secret of Lake’s success.