Collins Dipper Explained

The Collins Dipper was an American homebuilt flying boat that was designed and produced by Collins Aero of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania and first flown in 1982. The aircraft was supplied in the form of plans for amateur construction. Only one was built and none remain registered.[1] [2]

Design and development

The Dipper was a conversion of a Cessna 150, adding a fiberglass hull and nose to the Cessna land plane. Development was protracted and started in 1964, leading to a first flight in 1982.

The Dipper featured a strut-braced high-wing, a two-seats-in-side-by-side configuration enclosed cockpit with doors, retractable tricycle landing gear and a single engine in pusher configuration mounted above the cabin on struts.

The aircraft is made from aluminum and fiberglass, retaining the Cessna 150's wing and lift struts. The 33.41NaN1 span wing employs a NACA 2412 airfoil, mounts flaps and has a wing area of 160square feet. The standard engine used was the 1800NaN0 Lycoming O-360 powerplant.[3]

The aircraft nose wheel retracted forward and the main landing gear retracted upwards into the rear window space.

The Dipper had a typical empty weight of 1100lb and a gross weight of 1760lb, giving a useful load of 660lb. With full fuel of the payload for pilot, passengers and baggage is 426lb.

The manufacturer estimated the conversion time from the plans as 1000 hours.

Operational history

In 1998 the company reported that 13 sets of plans had been sold and one aircraft was flying.

By December 2013 no examples remained registered in the United States with the Federal Aviation Administration.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Purdy, Don: AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition, page 140. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998.
  2. Web site: Make / Model Inquiry Results. 22 December 2013. Federal Aviation Administration. 22 December 2013.
  3. Web site: The Incomplete Guide to Airfoil Usage. 22 December 2013. Lednicer. David. 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100420012244/http://www.ae.illinois.edu/m-selig/ads/aircraft.html. 20 April 2010. dead.