Wanna Carry 4 55-Gallon Drums? 6 Pax with Club Seating? The 6.2 is There for You

The Comp Air team updated us on their latest and greatest, the 6.2 and its associated “CompWing”, an inter-float airfoil that boosts performance to amphibious aircraft.

The idea was a deceptively simple one at Sun ‘n Fun earlier this year, allowing pilots to get up and off the water quicker, while adding just enough additional lift to add a couple more paying passengers. Comp Air saw immediate interest from operators in the far North - those extra tickets could make or break the operational piggy bank when the tourist season is so painfully short. Better news is the fact that the design might just be in the works for additional floatplanes in the future, so a CompWing-equipped Cessna 206, and eventually even a 208 to show up to future events. While timelines are always in flux as the industry dictates, expect about 3 years for the first real-life appearance of any STC’d CompWing.

The 6.2 continues to shape up to be a competent, capable, even somewhat affordable utility bush plane. Granted, it’s $250,000 for the kit, (plus the engine and avionics), but a 3,000-hour build time puts a cap on a bird that might just be able to make some inroads into backcountry flying. Updates on the piston-engined variant, powered by a 350-hp  TIO-540, portray a competent option. Offering 2,000 lbs of useful load against a 4,500-lb gross weight, the piston still holds its own in a world of meager lifters and anemic performers in the great white North. Even better, the TIO-540 equipped 6.2 still manages to pull off 170 knots in cruise for 840 nautical miles, not too shabby for a workin’ bird.

Of course, the real attention getter is always the 650-horsepower turbine-powered option. That provides enough get-up-and-go to take the aircraft to a 230-knot cruise, all with 3,530 lbs of useful load. With a ceiling of 25,000 feet and a 920-nm range, the turbine 6.2 provides a highly capable multi-mission experimental, hopefully at a sweeter price point than the big guys and their certified high-wing turboprops. Well, it should, once it reaches market.

FMI: www.compairenterprises.com