Sandy Lake Seaplanes

[Chuck Ellsworth]

Thanks for that enlightening bit of advice, so using that as a baseline for aircraft handling procedures I guess I will crash soon?

[Rowdy]

205, 206 and 207

A 205 is like a 210 with fixed gear and struts. You can tell by the bulge on the nose where the gear doors would usually be on the 210 and the lack of big cargo doors on the right side, also the landing/taxi light is in the wing. Everyone knows the 206 and then the 207 is the big ugly stretched beast with a bag. compartment up front. The 207 is the crowd killer there doc Some pictures for those who want to see the diff.



Thats a 205. See the lack or cargo doors and bulge?



Thats a 206. Not lights in lower engine cowling and no bulge




Thats a 207. Note the long gangliness of it all.

[iflyforpie]

Who knows they will probably last forever just to prove me wrong. Just like the guy who took a Cardinal RG with a prop strike over my objections over the rocks in the middle of winter and was fine.

But I guarantee you that I will never have a gearbox failure on my IO-520-F

Break break. A few early 206s (like mine) still have the nose gear bulge and wing mounted lights. And all early 210s have struts. Put the early to mid sixties 210, 205, and 206 together and unless you can see the doors and where the main gear doors are they are hard to tell apart.

I rebuilt a 207 a couple years ago that had eight seats (talk about crowd killer). Nice that the cargo door doesn't interfere with the flaps.

[PopnChipper]

Sandy Seaplane was the best entry level job I could have ever hoped for. It really jump started my career. I went there from an instructing position with 500 TT, I only got about 150 hrs in the year I worked for the flight school, and left Sandy with nearly 1100hrs 10 months later. It is about the only place I would go back to in a heartbeat.

You will work hard, and save your money, and if you are a 200 hr wonder, you will learn more in your time there than you could ever imagine. Tim is, hands down, the best boss I have ever had. Tom has a wicked temper, but very quick to recover and will look after his pilots better than any other owner I have ever met.

Even though living on the res was a little rough, the place is what you make it, and to repeat what I said earlier, I would go back in a heartbeat, I would fly floats this time, and shoot a moose though.

PnC

[Rowdy]

You're right! the 210 was the retractble version of the 205 initially.. then they got fancy and pulled the struts!! I've got a book on the history of cessna sitting somewhere here (on the stack with the dehavilland one as well). Quite interesting to see what went on in the ways of models and design cross overs and what have you.

I've only ever seen one 206 with the bulge. Was supposedly a reallllllyy early model like I'm guessing yours was?

BTW- the belly pod on the 206 is fantastic. One of my fav. mods! great for keeping the c of g in perfect harmony with people in the back seats!

Who other than Sifton air has 205's? Sandy shas how many 207's? just the one?

[CaptainHaddock]

I worked for Big Hook not Air Sandy, but we were very closely involved with Tom and Tim (especially saturdays).Just pay attention to what you are doing, pack some warm clothes and some good books. They have both done it and seen it all before (included many versions of you every new season). the $4000.00 bond/promissary note is pretty outragious though,and they are paying less now than they did 10 years ago.That doesn't surprise me though as they are pretty cost effective.You'll fly a lot though with two experienced guys to get advice from.Common sense and a good work ethic will get you to the end of a year or two with good experience and some great memories and a few scares I'm sure
CaptainHaddock

[Chuck_123go]

I'm with PopnChipper, Best entry level job for a newbbie comming to this airplane business. I read a bunch of post about " don't sign anything for a piston job " and I think thats the rant of a person who has not been looking for a job for a long time. I worked there and would go back anytime, I even think sometimes that if I had a break from my job now I go help out during the busy season for a month or two. If I was a boss I 'd have a bond for my company to make sure that who works for me does exactly what they say they are going to do. If you say I will do this job for this long do it. Too many people say they will stick around and as soon as they get their magic number for total time they take off and leave you stranded short staff when you sometimes need it most. The gentlemen who are Sandy lake seaplane are honest and call it like it is. If you do good they tell you, if you do bad they tell you which I guess is why some people think they are crazy. No lies, no bull, is not something you come across in many companies .

For you new guys looking for that first job before you go and jump in with both feet be sure to really want a bush job and you will be quite happy. I think where a lot a people get into trouble is that they don't realize what it really means to be a bush pilot and only see the romance and not all the crap you have to deal with.