Great Planes ElectriFly ARF Widgeon G-44 Review - Page 2 (2024)

Dec 23, 2011, 06:52 AM

• #16

Coenraad

Dec 23, 2011, 10:37 AM

• #17

kingsflyer

Thread OP

The Widgeon is a real looker alright. Hobbico has some mighty fine planes and the ElectriFly Widgeon is a great addition.

McD

Dec 23, 2011, 07:31 PM

• #18

Taildragger55

Good review Mike. I pre-ordered the model the day I saw it on the cover of Fly RC magazine. I have the PBY and I knew it would be a nice model from Electrifly. I did counter rotating props on the PBY and I highly recommend anyone contemplating this model to consider it.

Those of you who may be interested in historical tidbits of the G-44, there is one of the 35 remaining flyable ones for sale here in Anchorage Ak. I have personally looked at this aircraft and it's had a full restoration. The plane basicly looks like the day it rolled off the assembly line, inside and out. It's had a Franklin engine upgrade and a lot of modern avionic upgrades too.

What's historically significant about this airplane is the seller claims that this airframe is THE one origionally credited with the sinking of the German U-Boat U-166 off the Atlantic coast in WWII. New evedence discovered in 2001 found the the U-166 was actually sunk by a Navy sub chaser. Apparently, the pilot mis-represented himself. However, the sub was sunk in 1942, this is a 1944 airframe. I drive by this airplane at least a couple of times a week.

http://www.globalplanesearch.com/gps...n_g44.htm#pic1

Last edited by Taildragger55; Dec 23, 2011 at 07:58 PM.Reason: Typo's

Dec 23, 2011, 08:35 PM

• #19

sonny1

I never got a chance to fly in a Widgeon, but I did get the opportunity to fly in a Grumman Goose on two different occasions when Catalina Airlines was flying them from San Pedro to Catalina Island years ago, (the FAA grounded the Goose(s) due to salt water corrosion in the '80's; the airline is gone now). Flying in a big twin floatplane was cool enough, but the wicker seats really made it a truly "nostalgic" experience. I can see where the Widgeon would be a useful plane up there, there are probably more of them left in Alaska than down here in the lower 48.

Taildragger, and all the rest of you too......Happy Holidays and good air!

Sonny

Dec 24, 2011, 05:04 PM

• #20

ColinNZ

That brought back some great memories , my first ever flight was in a widgeon way back in 1960 piloted by Fred Ladd a very well known NZ identity, The takeoff and landing were of course from the sea.

Merry Christmas Everyone.

Colin.

Dec 25, 2011, 08:04 AM

• #21

Sonofa*gun

Dec 25, 2011, 02:22 PM

• #22

Taildragger55

Sonny, I've had the pleasure of a flight in a Goose too. We took off from a paved runway and landed on water at Port Heiden. I don't know how many Widgeons are up here but we have to greatest concentration of Goose's in the world. They're far more usefull than the Widgeon.

There was a Grummun Goose owners association that met here in Anchorage every summer and they would do a formation flight over the city, with permission from the FAA of course! I've seen as many as 10 of them in the air at once. I don't know what happened to them, they stopped doing it more than 10 years ago. I attached a pic of another local Widgeon. The other flying boat is patterned after the Widgeon but an entirely new plane. It's mostly composit construction and and has retractable tip floats. Unfortunatly I don't remember what it was called or who built it.

Dec 25, 2011, 02:54 PM

• #23

sonny1

They stopped flying the Catalina Gooses too, they had one crash at Avalon, (Santa Catalina Island), so they replaced them with helicopters and then one of those went down so the FAA clamped down on them. I don't know what happened to the remaining fleet of Gooses, (probably sent them to Alaska!). Since the airframes are so old I suppose keeping one airworthy is pretty expensive, especially when you can have a modern composite version that's easier to maintain and more reliable. More than the flights, I remember taxiing out, then back into LA Harbor. They landed outside the harbor, then taxied on the water at what seemed to be around 30+mph whizzing by oil tankers and freighters like a speedboat all the way to the back of the harbor to their terminal. Landing at Avalon was exciting too as the vista coming in on final was amazing. I've flown into and out of Catalina using their mountain-top landing strip, and though beautiful and exciting it doesn't match the splendor of landing on the ocean off of Avalon. It's too bad they don't do that any more, and I'm glad I got the chance before they shut down.
I have my RP, Snoopy and a couple of edf's loaded in the car. Dinner is this evening, so I'm going to go out and do some ocean side Christmas Day flying as a present to myself. The wind is supposed to stay below 10mph today, so it should be flyable.

Try to stay warm up their TD, hope you have a great Christmas.

I wish all a wonderful day!

Sonny

Dec 25, 2011, 04:53 PM

• #24

Taildragger55

I hope everybody has a great holiday. Happy flying Sonny. I think it was the saltwater that spelled the demise of a lot of old flying boats. Most of the ones still flying up here are mainly used in fresh water.

Merry Christmas

Dec 28, 2011, 10:32 AM

• #25

Go Pens

Dec 28, 2011, 12:02 PM

• #26

kingsflyer

Thread OP

Dec 31, 2011, 10:35 AM

• #27

vcaruso

Your camera person did a great job....I am impressed. Maybe you should cook dinner for her one night in thanks for such a great job?

Vince

Jan 01, 2012, 12:27 AM

• #28

kingsflyer

Thread OP

Thanks Vince, I'll let her know you liked her video. As for the dinner, we dated for five years and have been married for 40 years....I owe her a lot more than dinner .
McD

Jan 01, 2012, 11:20 AM

• #29

capngrog

Mike;

I agree, that's a great video. What was that sound in the background? It sounded like either an airplane running up or a lawn mower on steroids.

Do you fly with the differential throttle "on" or do you switch it off when you take off?

Cheers,
Grog

Jan 01, 2012, 12:52 PM

• #30

kingsflyer

Thread OP

The "sound" on the second day's video was courtesy of a John Deere lawn tractor. Unfortunately the calm water in the mornings occurred at the same time as some scheduled lawn care. I thought about having a "music over" to substitute for the mower, but my personal preference on flight videos is to be able to hear any pilot comments and to be able to hear the changes in the motor sounds during maneuvers to give me a better feel for the performance of the plane. It's also hard to choose music that everyone can enjoy that fits the plane's flight performance -- Top Gun music has been overused IMHO.

As for the differential throttle control. I was initially switching it off for takeoffs, but because of the torque issue, I find myself leaving it on now. As noted in the review, I use exponential on my rudder channel, so the actual amount of thrust difference at low rudder inputs is very small.

McD