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Aviation History
1965
1965 - 0106.PDF
66 FLIGHT International, 14 January /9AC "Touching down on the step is a graceful and satisfying manoeuvre LAKE LA-4 AMPHIBIAN... cruising at about 115m.p.h. Maximum cruising speed is 131 m.p.h. In her 1001b or so of extra equipment EI-ANR has a Stewart Warner combustion cabin-heater (361b); a full blind-flying panel of vacuum driven instruments; a Narco Mk 12 VHF nav/com trans- ceiver and a Bendix ADF T12B; night lighting; extra tip and float bumpers; an anchor, collision beacon, and sundry other items of safety equipment. The Lake is also a first class speedboat, man- oeuvrable and fast. When the machine is at rest one can walk about on her top surfaces, dive from the wings or fish from the nose. A basic Lake costs $26,580 ex-works: to this must be added UK purchase and import taxes and ferry-flight charges, which bring the cost of the aircraft to about £11,000 in Britain. To those unaccustomed to thinking in terms of amphibians and what can be done with them (and this probably includes most European pilots), the bare facts of the Lake's performance and price are perhaps not particularly brilliant. Though the writer was partly converted to seaplanes, following enjoyable weekends last summer messing about with the Sea Tiger Moth at Lee-on-Solent (amounting to some dual and lOmin solo), the loughs and pastures of Ireland were the scene for impressive, undreamed-of demonstrations. Headfort Aerodome on the estate at Kells, 30 miles north-west of Dublin, was easily located. The 310 radial from Dublin VOR brought us in nicely for a "talk down" delivered from the steps of the mansion by Lord Headfort himself, passing directions via a Shorrock portable transceiver. Scores of estate employees stood listening for the Baron's engines, ready to aid with basic QDM information—luckily we had arrived in the middle of the annual Christmas party. The field was about the smallest cow pasture we had been into with the Baron. Seriously, it is a splendid aerodrome —even Cessna 310s have been in there. A modern hangar and workshop space has been erected ready for the expansion in Lake business. The spares holding will be progressively increased as the number of European Lakes grows. Serviceability features of the Lake design include the propeller location—only under extreme conditions could the propeller be damaged; tyres, wheels and brakes interchangeable with those of Cessnas; standard hydraulic system components; a tough all-metal airframe with unusually stiff external panelling (in spite of the rumour that we sank the Lake, of which more later); and omni- accessibility to the engine through detachable "eggshell" nacelles. The only unusual feature for so small an aircraft is a multi-service hydraulic system—charged by an electric pump, or by a hand-pump if the flow of sparks fails. The large elevator-tip trim-tabs are moved hydraulically, as are the flaps, undercarriage retraction and wheel brakes. Jumping into the Lake through the vast opening left by the forward-hinging wrap-round windscreen/doors, even with the engine running and afloat or on land, is no trouble. The overall layout is ideal for mooring, docking, or coming alongside boats. Also, one can stand upright on the seat to take a look around. Nevertheless, to be first aboard from over the nose when docked head-on to beach or jetty demands a long arm and agility to reach the door handle. If your pens drop in the water at this stage, it is a lesson to be remembered later. The cockpit is very snug; the adjustable-for-reach seats are comfortable and give good support; all-round visibility is excellent, with the wing and tailplane tips, floats and lowered mainwheels on one's own side visible without straining. The blind-flying instrument arrangement, however, is not one of the best. The artificial horizon is offset, low-mounted and partly obscured—the only really prominent instrument being the clock. The layout of remaining instruments and controls is good. The overhead throttle, pitch and mixture levers work conventionally (forward for "on, fine and rich"); confusion is likely to arise only if one looks at the levers and mentally inverts them, so to speak. Mounting the levers high gets them well out of the way for entry and egress and, of course, leads to simpler linkages to the overhead engine. Now to handling; first as a landplane, for that was the writer's introduction to the LA-4. Ground manoeuvring is easy enough, even though the nosewheel only castors (it would pose sealing problems to pass steering rods through the watertight hull) to differential mainwheel braking—necessitating the use of more power than usual to turn. Sitting low to the ground, as if cradled in the wide track, one finds the ride remarkably stable. Take-off vital actions are: throttle friction, not applicable—the overhead lever is permanently damped; trim tabs, half nose-up— operated hydraulically through a press-and-hold lever on the floor between the seats (the adjacent indicator was not working on 'NR but the tab position could be checked visually); fuel "on" from the single 33 Imp gal centre-line tank (the selector is on the bulkhead behind the back seats and can just be reached from the front), fuel boost pump "on," too, for take-off; flaps selected (there are only two positions: up or down, the latter appearing to be about 20°) by a pull and move-down lever on the right of the panel centre-line, with red or green indicator lights as an alternative to a visual check of flap position; engine instrument needles in the green and hydraulic pressure adequate; hatches closed (each main door closes and latches positively by a single over-centre, cam-shaped "Tht Lake is also a first class speedboat ..."
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