>>1883252>>1883266>>1879666I basically wanted a western analogue to the Beriev Be-200. I have strong suspicion that there is a sizable market for a large multirole flying boat, but American carriers don't want to admit their interest in a Russian-built aircraft. I also feel that today's society depends too much on landplanes and could benefit from something about the size of a Q400 that can operate amphibiously.
The design I was imagining is basically:
>Seating for 80 passengers in either a 4 or 5 abreast cabin>High, unswept front tapered wing with small retractable pontoons about 2/3 of the way down>Powered by 2 Pratt & Whitney PW150 turboprops rated at ~5500 shp in an overhead pod in a push-pull configuration (I have no idea if it's possible to have PW150's installed this way)>Sponsoons just aft of the wing for stability but more to serve as a place for the main landing gear retracts>V-tail to keep the control surfaces out of the propwash of both engines which share a centerline>Overall similar to the Dornier Seastar (pic related), but bigger and with a pressurized cabin and a V-tailI don't know if this is realistic but I imagined it using a jetbridge on a terminal on land and then flying to a remote island destination and unloading passengers on a dock (or vice versa). Aside from passenger service, I imagined it carrying freight in a similar manner, and it could also be an excellent firefighting plane.
