Buffett Looking At New Seaplane

The February ’09 issue of Air International magazine discusses a North Carolina company’s plans to resurrect the Grumman Goose seaplane (pictured right), and according to the article they say that Jimmy Buffett is interested:

“V.L. Manual [owner of the company] now has strong interest from buyers in 20 different countries worldwide, including the possibility of a new “retro” Goose for country music legend Jimmy Buffett, which may have original Pratt & Whitney (P&W) radials instead of the turboprops. A highly-specialized military version of the Goose is also being developed by Antilles for potential use by US Special Forces.”

Antilles Seaplanes LLC expects to have the first new-production plane completed in June of this year. The Super Goose will have modern engines, modern electronics, and a number of other upgrades over the original Goose. Airframes will be of new manufacturer, rather then rebuilt.

The Goose is a bit smaller than Jimmy’s Albatross but also a bit larger than the Widgeon that he crashed in 1994. Originally designed in the 1930’s the Goose ended production in 1945 with 345 examples being built originally. Roughly 60 are airworthy today. Antilles sees a potential market for 200 new-built Gooses (not “Geese!”).

(hat tip to Pirate John for passing this along)

See photos of Jimmy’s airplanes here.