LINCOLN, Maine — PK Floats, the country’s oldest aircraft float manufacturer, is celebrating its 70th year of certified float manufacturing in January 2024.
“Our company has produced over 1,500 sets of aircraft floats over the past 70 years,” said Patrick McGowan, president. “We are proud of our Maine company that continues to serve several generations of pilots and aircraft throughout the world. Our product is handmade by Maine craftsmen and continues to be the toughest, lightest and fastest aircraft float on the market.”
PK Floats was started in International Falls, Minnesota, in 1954 by Peter Kellner, who received an FAA TSO for his first float in 1955.
Some of the floats manufactured in the 1950s are still in service today, company officials noted.
The floats are constructed with FAA approved aluminum and materials and then hand riveted together at the company’s headquarters in Lincoln, Maine. The factory, a 14,000-square-foot facility, is located at Lincoln Regional Airport (KLRG). There is also a seaplane base on the Penobscot River used to launch aircraft and serve the seaplane flying community, company officials reported.
Many of the floats manufactured over the years have been installed on law enforcement and natural resources aircraft belonging to state and federal agencies. The floats are used for aircraft tasked with search and rescue, forest fire prevention, fish stocking, wildlife monitoring, and marine patrol missions, according to company officials.
Lodges and sporting camps also have used PK Floats for decades flying into remote locations throughout North America, Canada, Alaska, and beyond.
McGowan points out that the world is made up of 70% water.
“When you attach aircraft to our PK floats, an entirely new world of adventure and exploration opens to the pilot,” he said.
PK Floats was owned by the AVIC Joy Holdings HK LTD, but was brought back to US ownership by McGowan and a small investment group in 2018.
Since July of 2018 the company has introduced several new products for the general aviation flying community. Most recently company engineer Levi Guimond and production manager Keith Strange designed an amphibious aircraft float for the experimental market.
Guimond, who brought the initiative to the company, noted, “The experimental aircraft market is the fastest growing segment in general aviation.”
The new experimental float is now half of the production of the company today, officials said.
The company also took on a project to make a highly modified Cessna 185, called the Super Skywagon.
“The team at PK Floats is outstanding — they found the aircraft that I had requested, retrofitted it for amphibious floats, new engine, prop, avionics, interior and made an entirely new amphibious airplane,” said Gary Halverson of Spicewood, Texas, who was the first customer for this new project.
“My airplane has received praise everywhere that I travel,” Halverson continued. “The work is top notch and American made. The performance of the Super Skywagon PK put together for me is unsurpassed.”
PK Floats also offers an aircraft sales and brokerage service to buyers and sellers of airplanes with a focus on float equipped and backcountry bush planes. Since its inception late in 2019 PK Floats Aicraft Brokerage has sold more than 55 aircraft throughout the United States and Europe.
PK Floats employs 15 full and part time employees today. It also partners with several other small Maine companies providing parts production and support. The company also has recently been accepted into the Maine Apprenticeship Program.
For more information: PKFloats.com or 207-446-5262