The Sea Duck

"Whoa, what a great plane! A Conwing L-16, right?"
"Good eye, kid! I call her the Sea Duck."

— Kit Cloudkicker and Baloo —

There are thousands of aircraft, commercial and freelance, cargo and passenger, operated by thousands of pilots everywhere. Of the pilots who operate such aircraft, several have perhaps made a name for themselves. A few have become respected veterans of the skies. And of these, a select few have become legends among their peers. One such pilot owns an aircraft that, incredibly, has set more records, avoided more perils, and survived more scrapes than any of the other thousands of aircraft in the skies today. This plane is named the Sea Duck.

Flown and formerly owned by the ace pilot Baloo (a legend in his own right), the Sea Duck is one of the fastest and most famous aircraft around. Legends told about this yellow-and-red-painted seaplane stretch from Aridia to Thembria, relating the famed exploits of this extraordinary plane and the pilot who flies her. Surprisingly, inquiries into the actual history of the Duck prove that the truth is not far removed from the myth. Almost all of the awe-inspiring tales of Baloo's and the Sea Duck’s achievements are accurate, with only slight variation from storyteller to storyteller.

In the course of her travels, the Sea Duck has flown through waterfalls and volcanoes, been riddled with bullets from air pirate attacks, lost both engines over Spango-Pango, been converted into a Thembrian condo, painted blue and sold as a 50-cent lawn ornament, submerged underwater for an entire week, and completely rebuilt at least once. Always brought back by Baloo the same "mean, clean flying machine," the Sea Duck is unquestionably the greatest plane in the skies.

The Sea Duck is a Conwing L-16, the general-purpose aircraft produced by the Conwing Aircraft Corporation. These legendary planes were once seen in almost every port and airfield during their heyday, but now have been nearly erased from the skies by the next generation of aircraft. However, some loyal pilots have stuck with their planes through these rough times, and several Conwings still operate at the present. If so, the Sea Duck is one of the few remaining of these — a legend among legends.

Like all Conwing L-16s, the Sea Duck is constructed in the classic L-16 design. The central fuselage is bordered by two wing assemblies attached to the upper midsection of the hull. Two long tail booms protrude from behind the engines and support the twin tail assembly. A metal partition inside the aircraft divides the Sea Duck's interior into two portions, the cockpit and the cargo hold. The cockpit area contains the primary flight instruments and control surfaces. Two seats are bolted to the floor for the crew, a pilot and a copilot (Baloo and Kit, respectively).

The cockpit panels are a mixture of both standard and modified gauges and instruments, some built by Baloo and mechanic friend Wildcat. The various instrument surfaces are covered with all the dials, buttons, and special controls needed by the Duck's pilot to maintain smooth flight. Though Baloo prefers to hand-craft any extra utilities, he is not against purchasing equipment (such as the new, state-of-the-art Googleschlocker gyro-compass). Empty control ports can be fitted with additions such as skywriting smoke systems.

Above, right: The Sea Duck's cockpit.

Below: Layout of the instrument panel, as seen from the copilot's chair.

The flight controls themselves are the most modified part of the Sea Duck's cockpit. Originally two flight control wheels steered the craft — for pilot and co-pilot — but Baloo had Wildcat adjust the co-pilot's yoke to retract under the dashboard when not needed. The throttle system is located in the middle of the dash between the two seats, with trim controls mounted on the ceiling. Because the Sea Duck does not have an autopilot system, Baloo keeps the plane on course by firmly wedging a crowbar into the flight stick, leaving him free to attend to other necessary matters (like chowing down on a double order of guacamole tacos).

Of course, the true heart of the Duck is the cargo hold, which is accessed by a door leading to the cockpit or by the two side doors at the aft of the plane. The hold is large enough to hold up to four tons of most transportable wares, more than even standard L-16s can carry! To accomodate additional passengers, three seats are bolted to the floor of the hold near the windows. The extra cargo capacity means that the Duck can be terribly overloaded, but as Baloo would put it, "There's always room on the Sea Duck to make money."

Cargo nets full of odds and ends of Baloo’s are affixed to the ceiling of the hold; other random belongings are strapped to the walls. The rear half of the hold is partitioned by a curtain, beyond which lies a storage cabinet and a double bunk bed.

A large door at the back of the hold is used for loading cargo into the Sea Duck. This door can be opened by a control panel on the nearby wall or by a duplicate switch in the cockpit. In case of mechanical failure with the door mechanism, a manual gear system on the wall can be used to open and close the hatch. On the ceiling just in front of the door is a spool of tow rope, used by Kit Cloudkicker when he wants to go "cloud-surfing."

Being a cargo plane, the Sea Duck was designed to endure the rigors of frequent flying while carrying heavy loads of cargo. However, Baloo is notorious for overloading his plane and routinely subjects the Duck to stresses far beyond the manufacturer's original specifications. To make matters worse, more-than-frequent encounters with Air Pirates generate a constant need for repairs. Sometimes the Sea Duck can perform spectacular maneuvers impossible for a lesser plane; other times, the Duck threatens to give out at any moment. But Baloo has a strange knack for coaxing the last bit of energy out of his precious "baby," and mechanic Wildcat spends hours each day tending to the Duck. Under Baloo and Wildcat's care, the Sea Duck not only flies, it soars!

SEA DUCK SPECIAL MANEUVERS
Here are some of the amazing feats of aerial acrobatics Baloo can perform in the Sea Duck: • Baloo Barrelhouse Backwards Roll This intriguing combination consists of a half-loop into a screaming vertical dive, followed by another sharp loop and a roll perpendicular to the horizon. The Baloo Barrelhouse Backwards Roll is one of Baloo's signature maneuvers; no other pilot has been able to execute it with as much skill and flourish as Baloo. Notes: +25 to difficulty. If successful, pilot gains a +15 bonus to all flight actions in the next round. Right: The Baloo Barrelhouse Backwards Roll. Below: The Baloo Corkscrew. • Baloo Corkscrew The Baloo Corkscrew begins with a sharp vertical ascent "straight toward the sun," followed by a half-loop which sends the plane into a spiraling dive similar to a corkscrew. The Baloo Corkscrew is one of Baloo's favorite brags, especially in his long-winded stories of evading air pirates. Notes: +15 to difficulty. Success gives a +10 advantage to evade attackers. • Double-Decker Pretzel Loop The Double-Decker Pretzel Loop is one of Baloo's most basic and trusty maneuvers, a double loop leading into a long, clockwise barrel roll which is parallel to the ground. Notes: +10 to difficulty. Pilot gets a +5 bonus to all flight actions if successful. Diagram of the Double-Decker Pretzel Loop, as demonstrated by Baloo in the Sea Duck.

"(The Sea Duck's) my best friend. Customized her myself."

— Baloo, to Kit Cloudkicker —

Baloo seems to have an affinity for adding a personal touch to everything he owns, a passion which has not stopped with the Sea Duck. With Wildcat's help, Baloo has customized and revamped the Sea Duck to his heart’s content. In fact, the craft has undergone so many alterations over the years that it scarcely resembles a Conwing L-16 as it would look fresh off the assembly line. Wildcat tinkers with the Duck continually — going so far as to switch the configurations of the passenger doors and cockpit control panels on a routine basis!

True to his nature, Baloo has installed numerous "snack centers" in the cockpit. Loaded with candy bars and sodas, these inobtrusive hatches provide ample in-flight nourishment for Baloo — at least until he can get to Louie’s for more thorough sustenance. Naturally, this also supplements the plane's emergency rations.

To pull out of steep dives, Baloo uses special dive flaps on the leading edge of the Sea Duck’s wings. Controlled by a cockpit lever, these panels open at a 90-degree angle directly into the airstream, allowing Baloo to execute amazingly tight manuevers. This system is sometimes used to escape Air Pirates, whose CT-37 attack planes cannot pull up as sharply.

Furthermore, the Sea Duck contains many secret hatches. There is a hidden ceiling hatch on the forward hold installed directly over the cargo net (also used for catching falling objects). As for belly hatches, the Duck has two: one in the cargo hold, the other in the cockpit behind the seats. The latter is an emergency device, used primarily to jettison unwanted passengers. Another hatch in the nose of the plane leads under the flight panel into the cockpit, useful for making repairs to the controls. Additionally, an inconspicuous lid in the floor of the cargo hold — often mistaken as part of the floor's design — leads to empty water tanks in the belly of the plane which are often used as hiding places.

Right: A convenient hiding place, in the belly of the Sea Duck.

The Sea Duck's top hatch, going into the cargo hold.		The Duck's nose hatch is accessed from the cockpit.

But perhaps the most extensively-modified part of the Sea Duck is the engine assembly. The original engines were replaced with two Superflight 100 engines. Superflight 100s are among the most powerful engines on the market, and they give the Sea Duck airspeeds unheard of for a craft its size. Even at cruising throttle, the Duck can outrace many modern cargo planes — only pirate fighters or newer-model patrol craft are faster.

At one time, the Sea Duck’s engines contained a special turbocharger device so top-secret that even Baloo hesitated to use it except in extreme circumstances. Called the "overdrive," this custom-built module was capable of accelerating the Duck's engines to many times normal speed. Details are sketchy, but the Sea Duck may have been able to approach the sound barrier with the overdrive activated. However, use of the device caused intense heat to build up in the engines, which is why Baloo almost never used the overdrive. Today the overdrive no longer exists, having burned out when Baloo raced back to Cape Suzette to save Kit. (See "Plunder & Lightning," Part 4.)

Despite the tight jams the Sea Duck’s pilot has placed her in, her official safety record is impressive: 10,000 total flights with no major accidents, but 101 officially-documented warnings and narrow escapes. Not bad for a twenty-year-old seaplane whose crew gets into dangerous situations every other day.

The Sea Duck is currently the property of Ms. Rebecca Cunningham and serves as the main delivery plane for her cargo service, Higher for Hire. Although Baloo is still at the controls, the Duck is used more for cargo shipping than joyriding these days. But the old bird has life in her yet, and until she goes for that final takeoff, the Sea Duck is still flying high.