Put a giant duck on a Maule, put a Maule on floats, and put it all on the North 40 at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2024. That’s what Alec Thayer, an enthusiastic seaplane flight instructor from Philadelphia, did for fun this summer.
After talking with Alec, one comes away with the feeling just about everything he does — no matter how serious it may be — is done for fun. It’s possible, if you have the right outlook.
Alec and some friends showed up the Friday before the July 22 start of AirVenture. They staked out their campsite beside Runway 09/27 and put up the duck.
The duck’s roost was a Maule M-9 that spends some of its time on hefty amphibious Edo floats and some time on wheels.
Alec uses his Maule for transportation, as well as seaplane instruction. He figures around 20 of the fabric-and-aluminum-covered singles are on floats.
Taxiing the Maule overland on the Edo 2790 wheeled floats places the pilot’s line of sight way above earthbound singles, according to Alec.
“It’s like driving your own control tower,” he says.
The flight from Philadelphia took Alec nine-and-a-half hours in two legs.
Appropriate for its use as a backcountry floatplane, Alec’s Maule has four gas tanks totaling 85 gallons — “a lot for a seaplane,” he says.
When making water takeoffs, he sometimes employs the time-honored float pilot trick of lifting one float out of the water to decrease the amount of surface contact, expediting acceleration and flying speed.
He carried about half the gear for the Maule camp at the show; his friends brought the other half. The set-up included a quantity of micro rubber ducks to complement the big duck roosting atop the Maule.
His third time at AirVenture, Alec says he enjoys the camping aspect of the show the most.
“The planes are great, but the people are what it’s really about,” he says. “We’ve had an unbeatable view the whole time.”
Like many pilots, Alec says he likes to “see what everybody’s story is.”
Alec’s aviation story started when he began flying in 2018. He has an unmistakable entrepreneurial streak that includes seaplane instruction, Part 135 charter flying in a Vision Jet, and animal rescue flights. He figures he has carried 600 dogs, cats, and two pigs to better homes — and one inflatable duck.
As we chatted with Alec, the fuel truck arrived to replenish the Maule’s tanks to carry him back to Philadelphia to his seaplane business and his girlfriend, who stayed behind to run the animal rescue operation.
Never a dull moment, if you work it right, like Alec.
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