The Avid Catalina is an American homebuilt

amphibious aircraft An amphibious aircraft or amphibian is an aircraft (typically fixed-wing) that can take off and land on both solid ground and water, though amphibious helicopters do exist as well. Fixed-wing amphibious aircraft are seaplanes ( flying boa ...

that was designed and produced by Avid Aircraft of

Caldwell, Idaho Caldwell (locally CALL-dwel) is a city in and the county seat of Canyon County, Idaho. The population was 59,996 at the time of the 2020 United States census. Caldwell is considered part of the Boise metropolitan area. Caldwell is the location ...

.Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition'', page 122. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998. Downey, Julia: ''2002 Kit Aircraft Directory'', Kitplanes, Volume 18, Number 12, December 2001, page 24. Kitplanes Acquisition Company. ISSN 0891-1851 It is a development of the Avid Amphibian.

Experimental Aircraft Association The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) is an international organization of aviation enthusiasts based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, United States. Since its inception, it has grown internationally with over 200,000 members and nearly 1,000 chapt ...

(June 1992), ''EAA Experimenter'', page 21, Oshkosh, Wisconsin. When it was available the aircraft was supplied as a kit, for amateur construction. The Catalina was introduced in September 1994. Avid Aircraft ceased operations in November 2003 and Catalina production ended.Avid Aircraft, ''Avid-Comm newsletter'', September 1994.

Design and development

The Catalina features a strut-braced

high-wing A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing conf ...

, a three-seat enclosed cabin, retractable

conventional landing gear Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...

, a boat hull and a single engine in

pusher configuration In an aircraft with a pusher configuration (as opposed to a tractor configuration), the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). Since a pusher propeller is mounted behind the engine, the drive shaft is in compression in n ...

. The aircraft is made from mixed construction, consisting of welded steel tubing, with its flying surfaces covered in doped

aircraft fabric Aircraft fabric covering is a term used for both the material used and the process of covering aircraft open structures. It is also used for reinforcing closed plywood structures. The de Havilland Mosquito is an example of this technique, as are ...

, plus

fiberglass Fiberglass ( American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cl ...

for the hull and other parts. Its span wing has a wing area of and folds for storage or ground transport, without disconnecting the controls. The wing is supported by "V" lift struts with

jury struts In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of strut, which act in ...

. The Catalina wings had the option of mid-wing sponsons, or the original Amphibian droop wing tip sponsons for water operations. The original engine used was the

Rotax 582 The Rotax 582 is a two-stroke, two-cylinder, rotary intake valve, oil-in-fuel or oil injection pump, liquid-cooled, gear reduction-drive aircraft engine manufactured by BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG. It is for use in non-certified aircraft operating ...

twin cylinder

two stroke A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being completed in one revolution of t ...

powerplant. Other known engines flown have included the

Rotax 618 The Rotax 618 is a two-stroke, two-cylinder, liquid cooled, gear reduction-drive engine that was formerly manufactured by BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG. It was designed for use on ultralight aircraft.Raisner, William: ''LEAF catalog'', pages 6-105. ...

Rotax 912 The Rotax 912 is a horizontally-opposed four-cylinder, naturally aspirated, four-stroke aircraft engine with a reduction gearbox. It features liquid-cooled cylinder heads and air-cooled cylinders. Originally equipped with carburetors, la ...

Hirth F30 The Hirth F-30 is a horizontally opposed four-cylinder, two-stroke, carburetted aircraft engine, with optional fuel injection, designed for use on ultralight aircraft and homebuilts. It is manufactured by Hirth of Germany.Cliche, Andre: ''Ul ...

Hirth 2706 The Hirth 2704 and 2706 are a family of in-line twin cylinder, two stroke, carburetted aircraft engines, with optional fuel injection, designed for use on ultralight aircraft and especially two seat ultralight trainers, single seat gyrocopte ...

and Verner 133MK engines. The Catalina has an empty weight of and a gross weight of , giving a useful load of . With full fuel of the payload is . While the fuel tank is standard equipment, the factory also offered optional and tanks. The earlier Amphibian model offered only standard fuel, with a total of as two tanks optional.Avid Aircraft, ''Sales Brochure'', published 15 March 1992 The Avid Amphibian and Catalina could also be built without water operations capability. This variation of the aircraft was dubbed the "Landphibian", and was lighter without the inboard and outboard sponsons. In 1992 the Amphibian kit cost US$16,695, while the land-only version kit was US$15,695. The manufacturer estimated the construction time from the supplied kit as 700 hours.

Operational history

By 2001 the company reported that 100 examples of the Amphibian/Catalina were flying. In December 2013 eleven examples were registered in the United States with the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

. One builder, Rod Snider, of

Boise, Idaho Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown ar ...

, wrote, "I completed the land version of the Avid Amphibian in January of 1987. Since then I have flown this remarkable little plane for 1960 hours. It is really a superb plane for sightseeing and flying slow and camping in back country airstrips. Three people of medium build can be carried comfortably, as can two people and all necessary camping gear with full fuel." This aircraft was reported as destroyed in January 2004.

Variants

;Amphibian :Earlier version with turned down wingtips acting as tip floats ;Catalina :Later version introduced in September 1994, with conventional wing-mounted floats. ;Landphibian :Version with float gear removed.

Specifications (Catalina)

References

External links

Photo of a CatalinaPhoto of a Catalina
{{Avid Aircraft Catalina 1980s United States sport aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft High-wing aircraft Homebuilt aircraft Amphibious aircraft Flying boats