Looking for a definition of the phrase “on step” in the sentence “Seconds later he reappeared on step, holding one float on the water as he took the corner.”
"The Boss taxied downriver, around the broad sweeping bend, and went out of sight. Seconds later he reappeared on step, holding one float on the water as he took the corner. Toby’s face was pressed to the window. He looked relieved.
I can’t figure out the phrase “reappeared on step”.
The context here is a floatplane in grizzly bear country. The former camp guide Toby has legged it out of there and onto a two-stroke engine floatplane, leaving the new guide to take over.
“On step” is a term for float planes. In order to get airborne, a float plane has to break the water tension between the floats and the the water’s surface. This is called “getting up on step”. Scroll down to paragraph five on this link.
A seaplane’s float acts both as a flotation device (for when the plane is moving slowly or stopped) and as a sort of water ski (for when it’s moving quickly - approaching flying speed).
The step is a term for part of the bottom of the float: the aft end of the “water ski” section. It’s shown in a (somewhat crudely drawn) diagram on this web page.
When a seaplane is “on step” it has reached a speed that allows it to plane on a relatively small section of the bottom of the float - most of the float is now out of the water, thus creating very little drag.
Small light aircraft may have floats. Here’s a Kitfox plane outfitted with floats. Most of those aircraft were powered by lightweight 2-stroke engines.
Yeah, mine wasn’t complete. I’m not a pilot, but I grew up near the largest float plane base in the world (Lake Hood/Lake Spenard in Anchorage) and heard that term throughout my young years.
I’ve seen several Kitfoxes on floats (indeed, had a friend who built one). But all had Rotax 4-stroke engines (912 and 914, as I recall). And it seems that the list of recommended engines is 100% 4-stroke.
But, yes - Googling says that older Kitfoxes may well have been equipped with 2-cycle engines.
“On the step” also applies to any boat with a planing hull. At rest it’s floating aka “displacing”. As it begins to move, at first drag is high and it’s still displacing.
At a critical speed that varies by design & load the boat hull stops plowing through the water and begins to skim (mostly) atop the water. Drag drops yugely and the same engine power produces much greater speeds. That’s planing or “on the step”.
The ROTAX 582 was popular on the early Kitfox planes, all built from kits as experimental planes. I remember some very light versions of the plane coming in around 500 lbs. empty weight (not with floats). Adding floats would probably push a plane owner towards a heftier engine.