Grumman Goose converted to turboprop

by philg

My favorite airplane at Oshkosh so far… a Grumman Goose converted to PT6 power. The owner was gracious and let our 7-year-old get into the cockpit and cabin, but I didn’t dare ask him how much it had cost to re-engineer the beast.

In one small area of the event we saw four different sizes of Grumman seaplanes: Widgeon, Mallard, Goose, and Albatross!

And if you thought landing a seaplane was challenging…

9 thoughts on “Grumman Goose converted to turboprop”

  1. Grumman Goose converted to PT6 power would be a dream plane. Did the owner mention range and speed with new engines?

    • There was a sign about the range that I should have taken a picture of! Max gross weight was bumped up to 12,500 lbs. during the 10-year STC process (to get regulatory approval from the FAA) and therefore the range is longer, I’m pretty sure, despite the higher fuel burn of the turbine engines.

  2. “In 1936, a group of wealthy residents of Long Island, including E. Roland Harriman, approached Grumman and commissioned an aircraft that they could use to fly to New York City.”

    Fast forward to “Endless Summer of COVID 2021” and this recent blurb in Vanity Fair:

    RICH PEOPLE OF THE HAMPTONS HAVE A NEW HEADACHE: EVEN RICHER PEOPLE
    https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/07/hamptons-new-headache-even-richer-people

    “After repeatedly passing by a house that belongs to “one of those hedge fund guys,” and watching him have enormous, fully-grown trees planted day after day, she said she finally stopped to ask the dozen or so workers on site about the cost. “They said they thought $50,000 to $75,000 a day,” she said. “I would suspect it’s closer to $100,000.”
    …
    “It’s so expensive, there’s no more livability. It’s all about tablescaping and costuming,”
    …
    “One hot lunch spot in Bridgehampton left a group still hungry and a lot lighter in the wallet. “The bill was $300 for four people, and we didn’t have any alcohol,” said one woman who thinks this year’s prices are much higher than last year’s. “We had two iced teas, a frisée salad, Caesar salads with chicken, and some oysters.”

    But would any of them get in that amazing plane now, much less commission today’s equivalent of Grumman for one? I doubt it.

    • Commute to Wall Street is so first half of 20th century. Now super-rich build custom LEO spacecraft and fly to space. Some even planning fly to Mars. This post is not woke enough!

  3. Interesting how these rich socialites blame richer novae rich and and not taxation along with socialist policies they generally support on sinking affordability of their rich lifestyle. Eventually they will have to move out.

    Here practically in mid-west we have some Long Island implants who sold their hereditary Hamptons-ish houses due to rising costs of living to continue life of leisure in the new place and even someone long-time local who is technically a multi-millionaire because he never sold his small house in the Hamptons inherited long ago through some relative which he visits every summer in his second or third hands pick-up track. He can repair tracks and houses himself.

  4. “I didn’t dare ask him how much it had cost to re-engineer the beast.” The McKinnon company paid for all of this in the 60s. My guess is these owners have several million dollars into this plane. It’s beautiful!

  5. Do you need a co-pilot for these? If so, it sort of defeats the purpose of flying it some some impossibly remote spot by yourself. Otherwise: what a dream airplane!

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