OUR AIRCRAFT
M2 Specifications
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1,200 HP version of the M1
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Proven design with a multi-year flight history and thousands of hours of flight time
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135-knot cruise
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Total range 205 miles
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Useful range 170 miles (allowing for 35-mile safety and battery life preservation range)
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Payload 1,700 lbs.
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Four motors with instantly reversible props for best-in-class docking and maneuvering
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High wing with retractable floats for excellent docking performance
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Slightly protruding tires for dock bumpers
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Flying boat design for superior rough water performance
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All carbon fiber and Kevlar construction for zero corrosion
The M2
Proven design to handle heavier payloads.
The M2 will be Maxwell’s first certified aircraft. As everyone in aviation knows, type certification is a long and expensive process. While we expect an easier path to certification compared to what electric EVTOL designs must prove (due to their high energy-consuming vertical flight component, particularly while landing), we still expect this part of our journey to take four years.
Why not certify the M1? The market for the M1 is limited by its 1,000-pound payload. Quite simply, we don’t believe it is worth the investment. Due to the extremely high power-to-weight ratio of modern electric motors, for example, there are 330 HP (250 kW) motors that only weigh 40 pounds (18 kgs), and this creates an opportunity to double the power with very little additional weight. Calculations show an improved payload performance, increasing the M2’s useful payload up to 1,800 pounds.
The other reason to wait for the M2 to begin our certification effort is the phenomenon known as "lock-in" once an aircraft is certified. After certification, changes or improvements are both expensive and lengthy. We think there is a tremendous market for an aircraft with low operating costs and heavy lift capability such as the M2, and we see it being sold and flown for many years to come.
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M1 Airframe History
One of the most proven airframe designs in all of aviation.
1941 - 1958
THE GRUMMAN WIDGEON ERA
The Widgeon was originally designed for the civil market. It is smaller but otherwise similar to Grumman’s earlier Goose and was produced from 1941 to 1955. The aircraft was used during World War II as a small patrol and utility machine by the US Navy.
After the war, Grumman redesigned the aircraft to make it more suitable for civilian operations. A new hull improved its water handling, and six seats were installed. In total, 76 of the new G-44As were built by Grumman, the last being delivered on January 13, 1949.
It became the Super Widgeon, which McKinnon revived in 1958 with more hull improvements, larger windows, modern engines, and propellers. Alas, only 76 were built.
1990
THE GWEDUCK ERA
The story starts in 1990 with Ben Ellison and Ross Mahon watching a Widgeon land at the Renton Airport near Seattle.
Both Ben and Ross, seaplane pilots, agreed that a modern version of the classic flying boat aircraft was needed. Ross’s father had headed the production of the Canadian-built PBY Catalina for Boeing during the war in Vancouver, BC, and knew a great deal about the subtleties of flying boat operation. Marty, Ben’s brother, and a Delta Airline pilot, shared a passion for flying boats, and the four of them laid out the specs for a modern flying boat.
The size and weight of their new flying boat were targeted between the Widgeon and the Goose. The wing was designed with a high aspect ratio coupled with a modern airfoil. The airframe/hull was primarily fiberglass skin sandwiching a foam core for strength and impact resistance. Carbon fiber was used in the wing spars and control surfaces.
The design philosophy centered around an excellent water-handling aircraft followed by performance in the air. This led to the first priority in the aircraft’s design to be user-friendly when taking off and landing, as well as when moving around on the water in a busy marine environment. Good maneuverability on the water required reversible propellers supplemented by a very effective retractable water rudder. Easy dockside mooring dictated individually retractable wing tip floats, with main landing gear tires protruding just far enough to serve as dock bumpers. Also, the top surfaces of the wings and cabin needed to be tough enough for occasional foot traffic. To mitigate the occasional bumps and bruises inevitable from boats and docks, the Gweduck was designed with a nonstructural wing leading edge, allowing for easy repair or replacement of minor damage.
The most important and challenging aspect of the user-friendly design goal was to design hull bottom geometry to avoid the porpoising that befell so many Grumman Widgeons. Accordingly, Ben studied numerous NACA reports on US Navy flying boats and consulted with several sea-plane experts, the most prominent of whom was David Thurston. (Mr. Thurston, a former Grumman engineer who was the designer of the Skimmer Amphibian, which later became the Lake Amphibian). Several potential hull bottom configurations were modeled and tested. Eventually, the secret to pitch stability revealed itself, and work then focused on keeping spray out of the propellers. The spray problem was eventually solved by the simple expedient of copying an ingenious Japanese chine duct design used on their post-war air/sea rescue aircraft.
The remaining part of the design effort was to call in well-known aircraft structures expert Martin Hollmann to do a structural analysis of the design and make any changes necessary to carry all flight and water loads. The Gweduck first flew in fifteen years ago, in 2009.
The aircraft has shown itself to be extremely docile in airports and on water. As one experienced float plane pilot and aviation writer commented, “The Gweduck is as easy to operate on and off the water as any float plane.” When landing at airports, its behavior has been described as what one would expect from a twin-engine Piper Cub.
2021
THE CARBON SEAPLANE ERA
In 2021, Walter Fellows recognized just how good of an airplane the Gweduck was and imagined the same airplane serially produced with stronger, stiffer, and lighter carbon fiber and Kevlar. With the acquisition of Composite Creations in Prineville, Oregon, a company was formed to serially produce the Gweduck in the experimental category. The Carbon Seaplane era had arrived.