How to turn your seaplane into an amphibian

[Major Nikon]

[Paulie]

1. I want to see it land back on the trailer

without reversing the video.

[Major Nikon]

2. I saw this guy at Oshkosh, but they had an RV instead of a truck

[Orrex]

3. I'm not an airplane guy, but...

the prop seemed to be spinning incredibly slowly at takeoff. Is that just a trick of the camera, or am I missing something? My ceiling fan spins faster than that!


Neat, though.

[Major Nikon]

4. It's the frame rate of the camera

When the frame rate approaches a harmonic of the prop speed, it will start to appear as if it is spinning slowly or even stopped.

The prop speed on takeoff is around 2500 RPM. For some aircraft, the tips of the props will be going supersonic on takeoff, which is why they are so loud. My airplane has an adjustable speed prop, so on takeoff I pull the prop back a bit once I get enough altitude to reduce the noise and be kind to the airport neighbors.

[Orrex]

5. Ah--thanks! Very cool.

The sniglet for a similar phenomeon--the "backwards" spin of stagecoach wheels in old westerns--is "point blimfark," when the frame rate synchronizes with the rotation of the spokes.