# Flying a boat backwards

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-a-boat-backwards/336990>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 23, 2005, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-a-boat-backwards/336990 "2005-12-23T18:05:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-a-boat-backwards/336990/1 "2005-12-23T18:05:24Z")

</div>

Back in the early-'80s _Flying_ had an article about using an airplane to take a vacation to remote areas. I _think_ the aircraft was a float-equipped Cessna 206 Stationair, but I’m not sure. The guys took a rowboat with them, and attached it to the aircraft. So far, so good. I’ve seen backpacks, sleeping bags and shovels attached to a Piper J-3 Cub. Nothing wrong with external loads if you know what you’re doing.

But the boat was attached to the aircraft stern-forward. The article said that they secured the boat bows-forward, but that there was less drag the other way. Looked funny. Intuitively, it seems a flat plate in the airstream would cause _more_ drag than an aerodynamic (hor hydrodynamic) shape such as the bows of a boat. Back in the '70s the ‘Kamm tail’ was popular on cars (such as the Triumph Spitfire) because ‘lopping off’ then end was found to be more aerodynamic than a rounded back end. Isn’t a transom on a boat sort of like a Kamm tail on a car?

Can someone please explain the aerodynamics involved in flying a boat with the stern forward as opposed to bows forward?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![aeropl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@aeropl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aeropl)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-a-boat-backwards/336990/2 "2005-12-23T18:28:37Z")

</div>

I thought I read here on the boards that if the boat is pointing forward and it was a chopped-off stern, then a vacuum (or suction) will be created that causes a huge amount of drag. Tests that were conducted proved that a backwards facing boat was more aerodynamic. I would think the best thing to do would be to add a cone type structure at the back of the boat [like the space shuttle uses](http://observe.arc.nasa.gov/nasa/gallery/image_gallery/flight/graphics/shuttle_carrier.jpg) and then fly it either way forward. I’m at work so I don’t have time to search around but after a few net searches someone might find more information.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flying-a-boat-backwards/336990/3 "2005-12-23T18:37:31Z")

</div>

> [@aeropl](#):
>
> I thought I read here on the boards…

Hm. Maybe I did ask this before. I don’t remember.