Any seaplane experts here?

plenny7

plenny7

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Oct 3, 2014
261
Marlow-Hunter MH37 Lake City, MN
We had a seaplane land on our lake yesterday while we were sailing. At first I thought it was making an emergency landing because the only thing we ever see on the lake are float planes, and even those are rare, but this plane made a controlled landing, floated on the lake for a while, then took off.

My wife took a video of the plane as it passed behind us just before the landing. Any idea what it might be? There no markings other than the tail number, which I didn't get.

 
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cb32863

cb32863

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Jun 29, 2010
1,287
Beneteau First 235 Lake Minnetonka, MN
We get them every now and then on our lake as well. They skim the water doing training runs for fire fighting. Had one do a fly by on Saturday without landing. Not sure what it is but, one of my best friends runs a seaplane base in the north metro here in the twin cites and as per his expertise, a "Float plane" is a "Seaplane". ;)
 
plenny7

plenny7

.
Oct 3, 2014
261
Marlow-Hunter MH37 Lake City, MN
cb32863 said:
We get them every now and then on our lake as well. They skim the water doing training runs for fire fighting. Had one do a fly by on Saturday without landing. Not sure what it is but, one of my best friends runs a seaplane base in the north metro here in the twin cites and as per his expertise, a "Float plane" is a "Seaplane". ;)
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I'm familiar with the fire fighting planes as we've seen them in Canada. We had one dump its excess water in the lake we were fishing one time. As you say, they skim the water, not land. This one landed and was on the water for maybe a minute. And I've seen, and ridden in, plenty of float planes, the kind you take when you fly into Canada fishing at the outpost cabins, and this was much bigger.

I think @dsims nailed it. I think it was a Grumman Albatross.
 
Jackdaw

Jackdaw

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Nov 8, 2010
11,386
Beneteau First 36.7 & 260 Minneapolis MN & Bayfield WI
plenny7 said:
We had a seaplane land on our lake yesterday while we were sailing. At first I thought it was making an emergency landing because the only thing we ever see on the lake are float planes, and even those are rare, but this plane made a controlled landing, floated on the lake for a while, then took off.
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Maybe someone had to go potty.
 
plenny7

plenny7

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Oct 3, 2014
261
Marlow-Hunter MH37 Lake City, MN
I found it, and it is a Grumman Albatross. This is from a few years ago, but at 25 to 55 seconds in the video, it's flying over our lake, Lake Pepin.



It was built in 1951, delivered to the USAF in 1954, and retired from the military in 1971 after serving in the Korean and Vietnam wars in search and rescue missions. It's now owned by a company in Eagan, MN, TP Universal Exports International.

Full details, photos and videos.
http://tpaero.com/grumman-hu-16-albatross/
 
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cb32863

cb32863

.
Jun 29, 2010
1,287
Beneteau First 235 Lake Minnetonka, MN
plenny7 said:
It was built in 1951, delivered to the USAF in 1954, and retired from the military in 1971 after serving in the Korean and Vietnam wars in search and rescue missions. It's now owned by a company in Eagan, MN, TP Universal Exports International.
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Could very well be the same one we saw on Saturday doing the fly by.
 
Scott T-Bird

Scott T-Bird

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Oct 26, 2008
6,075
Catalina 320 Barnegat, NJ
Love that video! It has to be a bit spooky coming upon those power lines on the Chippewa River! My brother lives at the headwaters of that flowage.
 
plenny7

plenny7

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Oct 3, 2014
261
Marlow-Hunter MH37 Lake City, MN
Oh now this is cool! Good video from inside and outside the plane, landing, anchoring, and taking off at Lake Pepin. The Lake Pepin footage starts about 1:35. It looks like they anchored near the city beach at Lake City, immediately north of the marina.

 
FDL S2

FDL S2

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Jun 29, 2014
470
S2 7.3 Fond du Lac
I had a float plane land in front of me a few times this summer.

This was about a month ago in very light air.
 

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WayneH

WayneH

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Jan 22, 2008
1,039
Tartan 37 287 Pensacola, FL
Houma, Louisiana. He landed and took off in the ICW.
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The next morning, there was traffic.
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kloudie1

kloudie1

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Nov 6, 2006
9,892
Hunter 34 Mandeville Louisiana
Used to be lots of those old Grummans down around here; Duck, Goose, and Albatross were the three main models (in ascending size) .. They were used to fly folks around to service little oil installations around the marshes and swamps before the age of microwave communications.. and helicopters. Great old planes..
 
Rick D

Rick D

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Jun 14, 2008
7,137
Hunter Legend 40.5 Shoreline Marina Long Beach CA
kloudie1 said:
Used to be lots of those old Grummans down around here; Duck, Goose, and Albatross were the three main models (in ascending size) .. They were used to fly folks around to service little oil installations around the marshes and swamps before the age of microwave communications.. and helicopters. Great old planes..
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I used to fly to Catalina on them before they were pulled from service and replaced by choppers. Great fun. Hearsay has it that there was so much corrosion, especially in the wings, they were grounded.
 
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