landis belly pod

[akloon]

Dick Lounsbury stopped by today while I was doing the annual and asked if I or anyone else would be interested in getting Landis to do a belly pod. It would be nice to be able to fill up the 4 seats and still have a 185 amount of cubic space to load up the rest of the gear. He has been talking with Landis and thinks if they expand their Cessna pod a little wider it would be a good fit, including skis. May run around $3800.
Pretty interesting to me. I've been having to make two trips to get the family into our camping spots for the past few years.
Dave

[BatMaule]

That would be pretty cool and I'm happy to hear the idea being kicked around. The ability to carry long items (like skis) would sure be nice. (But that can also be accomplished with an extended baggage.) I have to admit that I don't have a good picture in my mind of how this pod would be installed. Obviously the most forward part of the pod is going to be behind the oleo attach points which is very aft of Cub and Cessna pod attach points. Couple that with the fact that Maules on standard gear and anything less than 31" tires are rather "belly-dragging" and I see that pod hanging rearward and pretty close to the ground.

If it can be made to work, I think it would really increase the Maule's appeal to guides and air taxis. I kind of doubt it would be then next $4K, I'd spend on the plane though.

[crbnunit]

I might be interested if there is a fuel option. It is not often I carry 3 or 4 people so I have the rear seat out and plenty of storage. What I don't have is range.