Following the recent merger announcement of Lake Aircraft and Archedyne Aerospace Corp, the newly-titled Lake Aerospace Corp comes to NBAA to present not only its familiar pusher-props Renegade and Seawolf, but also the reinvigorated NauticAir 450.

This futuristic-looking amphibian is a single-pilot, nine-seater with room to spare for a complete refreshment center and a sizeable lavatory. Constructed of aluminum and composites, it has swept wings, a T-tail and low-mounted gull wings, the inboard sections of which provide stability on the water without outrigger floats. A wide-track tricycle landing gear is used for runway operations.
Spanning 58 feet 1 inch and 52 feet 6 inches in length, the NauticAir 450 offers a cabin length of 20 feet 9 inches, a width of 6 feet 8 inches, with 5 feet of headroom. A generous pressurization differential allows for a sea-level atmosphere at 40,000 feet.

A pair of Williams-Rolls FJ44-2 turbofans, mounted on the shoulders of the rear fuselage, each supply 2,300 pounds of thrust--enough to propel the 12,500-pound MTOW aircraft at 450 knots, making it sufficiently fuel-efficient to give a range of 1,600 nmi with a 45-minute reserves.
NauticAir's concept has a long history, dating back to the 1970s, when its originator, G. Leonard Gioia, a doctor of medicine, realized that the amphibians he enjoyed flying were insufficiently 'clean' to achieve high speeds. An introduction via astronaut Col. Tom Stafford brought to bear the expertise of Dr. Donald Ritchie of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Thanks to additional inputs from NASA's distinguished Dr. Richard Whitcomb, the team came up with the 'tunnel hull' fuselage, which gives water stability without a deep fuselage or auxiliary floats.

Unfortunately, the project languished during the 1980s as a consequence of indirectly related financial issues.

A decade later, Dr. Gioia's four university-educated children moved it forward again, relying on computer-aided design and associated modern tools. The result is an aircraft that is claimed to be both faster and cheaper than the upcoming crop of six/eight seat bizjets. Add to that the fact that no place on earth is more than 35 miles from a suitable landing area, and the case for the NauticAir is irrefutable.

By Paul Jackson