Yesterday was the first opportunity to get the Canadair 415 onto the water but unfortunately things didn't go well, to the degree that the Canadair didn't even come close to getting into the air, which was rather unfortunate as it was a spectacular afternoon for flying.
The first issue was the rudder, which proved almost immediately to be bordering on useless. It appears the thin wire mechanism, incorporated into the tail assembly, is much too lightweight for the job, so the Canadair ended up drifting rather aimlessly around the lake and ending up having to power it through the water weeds as steering it back wasn't an option.
Fortunately, as we know, the Canadair has a surfeit of power which saved it from the indignity of being marooned on the water. This was all the more impressive when one saw the amount of marine foliage that the fixed rudder had gathered as the plane trawled through the weeds.
The second issue was that one wing was heavier than the other so that, despite the plane accelerating on the water, I was unable to get the wings levelled. As a corollary, with the float stuck on the water, the Canadair was progressing in slow circles.
I eventually gave up and ploughed it back to shore. The wing balance is a relatively easy fix, however the rudder function is a more taxing issue altogether, and something I'll have to do some research on...
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