Piloting Couple Will Make Flying Boat Their Home

ROSEBURG, Ore. - Getting stopped in a construction zone near Roseburg Regional Airport has been worthwhile recently - at least for anyone who's never seen a 30,000-pound flying boat.

Coming to a halt allows a longer glance at the 1954 Grumman Albatross. Sporting wheels and floats, the brightly colored blue and yellow seaplane with its prominent propellers has been drawing plenty of curious onlookers.

Longtime pilots Joyce and John Proctor, who live on a grass airstrip near Glide, flew their "personal flying machine" into Roseburg after the plane's inaugural Oregon air show at Troutdale.

By the first part of August, the couple intend to live in the plane full time as they travel to air shows across the country and, eventually, around the world.

John, a former construction-company owner, and Joyce, a banking consultant, will put their traditional careers on hold while they travel, but they hope to publish articles or books about their flying adventures.

Because the couple is moving from a 5,000-square-foot custom home to the 360-square-foot plane, they plan to include a few amenities in their new living space.

They include a fully stocked kitchen, a dinette, a sofa, two double beds, a bathroom with a shower and bathtub, built-in cabinets, a heater and air conditioner, and a small washer and dryer.

The kitchen window will open, allowing a barbecue to swing outside the plane so they can grill their meals while the plane sits on

water. Another hatch will open to accommodate an outboard motor in case the couple want to tool around a lake.

The Proctors can climb out of traditional hatches in the ceiling to get to the top of the plane.

"When we're on the water, this becomes our patio," Joyce Proctor said.

The Proctors bought the Albatross 2 1/2 years ago when it was in the middle of a six-year renovation project.

Before its remodeling, the plane sat for many years in a military "boneyard" with other retired planes until it was sold for scrap aluminum.

Fortunately for the Proctors, the person who bought the plane for its metal decided not to melt it down.

When the plane takes off, it drinks 400 gallons of fuel an hour, and it averages 100 gallons an hour while cruising. But it can cruise at speeds of 160 to 170 knots, or nearly 200 mph.

"It's considered a slow plane, but it does all right," Joyce Proctor said, "considering you're taking your whole house with you."