Put these floats on your Cessna 172 and turn it into an amphibian

Amphibian airplanes for MSFS are few and far in between. We have the default Icon A5, the ‘Bird Dog‘ with floats, the freeware Grumman Goose… and not much more. Aerosoft will deliver the Twin Otter with floats, as well as SimWorks Studios and their Kodiak 100, but choices are and will continue to be limited for the near future.

Fortunately, this weekend we saw the release of a modification of the default Cessna 172, adding floats and effectively turning it into an amphibian airplane. This freeware mod comes from developer bagolu, who also brought us the 152 banner tow.

This amphibian C172 is powered by a Lycoming 210HP engine, giving it plenty of power to overcome the added weight. However, early reports point to a somewhat overpowered machine, so this may change in future updates.

The developer picked up on Asobo’s work with both the G1000 172 and the classic steam-gauge variant that is available in the Premium version of Flight Simulator. With the free download, you get two models to be used with either of the variants that you have on your sim.

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A great deal of work was put on to create the necessary new visual elements for this amphibian version of the C172. Besides the mandatory introduction of the Wipline 2350 floats, with wiring and retractable landing gear included, the developer also added STOL camber cuffs on the wings for added lift. Flaps’ angle has also been increased, now going down to 40º.

With floats, you can now take your Skyhawk to many new places across the globe. While MSFS doesn’t include any water runways or seaplane pontoons, developers have been creating some of their own, which you can find at flightsim.to

It’s unfortunate the Flight Simulator doesn’t yet have proper support for amphibian airplanes. Water rudders are currently non-functional, and you can’t transition from water to land and vice-versa. Additionally, water physics is not great. But this will all hopefully be fixed in future core updates to the sim!

Still, landing on water is always great fun, and with the stunning worldwide scenery in MSFS, great adventures expect you away from traditional airports!

The Amphibian Cessna 172 is now available through flightsim.to