(Not retained denomination : banana surfer)

I've been thinking about doing a hydroplane with jet engines for a while. I thought I could re-use an airframe that I like (STOL experiment). This bad boy can take-off and land both on ground and water. The floaters can be dropped for better flyability but then of course you're limited to ground applications. Make sure the landing gear is extended for ground operation (duh) but make sure it is retraced for water operation.

One of the issue with water operation is the transition between floating and flying. The difference in drag and the fact that it's applied well below the CoG create dangerous pitchings. Therefore this plane is fitted with 2 systems to counter it : pitchable forward engines and underwater pitch control.

Ground take-off : You can take-off the usual way with full throttle and pitch up. You can also follow the water take-off procedure to use a shorter track length.

Water take-off : Full throttle with engine pointed up (VTOL slider backwards). You will have to release the VTOL almost immediately after lift-off.. You can do it more or less gradually, just be ready to compensate this movement with your tail controls.

Ground landing : Simpy let the throttle down to 20%-35% and do a slow descent as usual.

Water landing (most tricky) : Raise the engines (VTOL slider back) and throttle to 20%-22% try to stay below 210 mph but above 180 mph to avoid stalling. Achieve slow descent with an the nose up. Be sure to pitch fully up upon touchdown.

Controls :
-AG1 : Additonal lights
-AG2 : Drop floaters
-AG8 : Forward engines pitch control