Hardest and easiest float planes to load and unload

floatflyingguy · Post by **floatflyingguy** » Sat Jul 14, 2007 11:23 am

I am a dock hand and i find the dehavilland otter the hardest , and cessna caravan amphib easiest. those otters are so damn high , but the caravan is just nice. its especialy hard on the otter unloading those giant 240lb c3h8 cylinders

185_guy · Post by **185_guy** » Sat Jul 14, 2007 11:43 am

The door on the Norseman was a bit of a pain to load/unload full drums. It wasent quite wide enough for the drum to roll in.....had to roll it up the ramp, turn it sideways and push it in.
Some have a little triangle shaped head banger door mod installed, so people wouldent bang their head going in, and a sheet of plywood would go inside right nice.
And Beavers.......whoever put the rear seat right smack dab inline with the door should have thought about that one a little better!!! Nothing like having to lift a 100# duffle bag up into the plane, only to have to go over top the seat to get it behind the net! ( unless you have that big rear cargo door mod!!)

xsbank · Post by **xsbank** » Sat Jul 14, 2007 3:49 pm

Bigger = harder
Little = easier

22 barrels in a Dash7...course, mine didn't float.

tofo · Post by **tofo** » Sun Jul 15, 2007 12:34 am

172 by far the best to load.

Take the doctors brife case and tell him to get in. Reverse for unloading

CLguy · Post by **CLguy** » Sun Jul 15, 2007 8:31 am

Hardest is the Beech 18 on floats with a small door! You only had to load 45's into once to make you wish you were flying one with the cargo door. The low cabin height contributed to the well known Beech back.

tofo · Post by **tofo** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 10:19 am

I'd have to go for the scoopers for thee easiest to load and unload.

Cat Driver · Post by **Cat Driver** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:35 pm

Naw, you are all wrong, the hardest to load and unload freight is the PBY on the water.

CLguy · Post by **CLguy** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 4:46 pm

Well Cat you are probably right. Never had to do it, but sure heard lots about it from the guys who did.

Tofo I agree and the beauty of it all is there is never any complaints from the back end!!

Siddley Hawker · Post by **Siddley Hawker** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 7:21 pm

Naw, you are all wrong, the hardest to load and unload freight is the PBY on the water.

I'll go along with that.

tofo · Post by **tofo** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 7:51 pm

CL I'll see you in corfu

CLguy · Post by **CLguy** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 6:49 am

OK but do I have to host the safety meetings? I certainly am interested but a little skeptical!!

tofo · Post by **tofo** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 6:18 pm

there's probably an establishment or two capable of hosting the safety meetings. There might even be woman who are aloud to come to those saftey meetings. Now that's a novel Idea

shimmydampner · Post by **shimmydampner** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 3:36 pm

xsbank wrote:Bigger = harder
Little = easier

Not necessarily so.....I can tell you've never loaded/unloaded full moose quarters, giant fishing rods and tubes (stupid "bazookas"), 100-pounders of propane, etc. in a 185 vs DHC-2 or -3.

Rowdy · Post by **Rowdy** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 3:59 pm

180/185 can be viewed as easier as it'll take less.. BUT it's more entertaining trying to fit things into it.. and load through that door vs. say a beaver of otter. I found it much more of a pain in the ass to get 100lb'ers and those big fishing rod tubes as well as anything awkward of heavy into a cessna..

They all have their pros and cons.. So far I find my beav to be pretty straightforward and easy to load and unload. Those guys who fly machines with the alaskan door mod.. well.. thats a whole new ball game!!

oldtimer · Post by **oldtimer** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 7:59 pm

The Fairchild Husky was easy to load. Big doors on both sides that could be removed completly. Long stuff got it up the wazoo. Underpowered old pig so you did not have that much to load. Norseman with the big doors was nice, but I found the Beech 18 to be a bit of a pig. OK if you were at hom and could use a ramp but in the boonies, a bit awkward.