Lake LA-250 Renegade

Overview

The Lake LA-250 Renegade is a certified six-seat amphibious flying boat, the largest and most powerful airplane in the Lake amphibian line. Lake Aircraft built it as a stretched development of the four-seat LA-4-200 Buccaneer, adding about three feet of length and a taller tail, and hanging a 250-hp Lycoming IO-540 as a pusher on a pylon above the hull. Retractable tricycle gear – trailing-link mains and a free-swiveling nose – lets it work off both runways and water. Certificated in June 1983 to a fresh 14 CFR Part 23 standard rather than as an amendment to the older LA-4 certificate, it traces a lineage that runs back through David Thurston’s 1948 Colonial Skimmer, and it later spawned the turbocharged Turbo 270 Renegade and the militarized Seawolf.

On the water and in the air, the Renegade trades outright speed for something rare: a six-seat cabin on a type-certificated amphibian, roughly 132 KTAS in cruise, and about 320 nm of range on the standard 40 usable gallons. Weights tell the same story of a working amphibian rather than a fast tourer – 3,140 lb MTOW against a useful load near 1,290 lb, with a 12,500-ft service ceiling and a sea-level climb around 680 fpm. For a buyer who genuinely needs to land on water, carry a family or a load, and do it in a type-certificated airframe, the Renegade earns its keep. The buyer who wants amphibious flying for two people, or who wants speed and cost efficiency above all, is looking at the wrong airplane and should size the mission before the purchase.

Key Features for GA Buyers

• Six certified seats on the water. Amphibians in this class typically seat two to four, so the Renegade’s six-place cabin opens up family and small-group missions they cannot serve. It is a factory-built, type-certificated flying boat with genuine cabin-class room.
• Pusher IO-540 up high, out of the spray. The 250-hp Lycoming IO-540-C4B5 sits on a pylon above the hull driving a three-blade constant-speed Hartzell, which keeps the propeller clear of water spray. TBO is 2,000 hours.
• Real amphibious flexibility. Retractable tricycle gear means the same airframe operates from paved runways and from water. Takeoff over a 50-ft obstacle runs about 1,410 ft on a hard surface and 2,225 ft on water, giving the pilot a wide envelope of usable fields and lakes.
• Useful load that matches the seat count. A useful load near 1,290 lb and 200 lb of baggage capacity mean the six seats are not just nominal. An optional five-tank fuel system holds 88 usable gallons for roughly 660 nm still-air, letting an owner trade cabin payload for reach when the mission calls for distance.

Trade-offs

• Cabin-class running cost for a private-pilot airplane. Direct operating cost runs about $174/hr, well above the four-seat Buccaneer’s $137. The bigger six-cylinder engine, the extra fuel burn, and the heavier airframe all show up on the hour meter, so the six-seat capability is not free even when the seats sit empty.
• Amphibian ownership is its own discipline. On top of normal airframe upkeep, a flying boat demands corrosion control, hull inspection and maintenance, and higher insurance premiums. These costs are structural to the mission, not optional, and a buyer new to amphibians should budget for them before signing.
• Out of production, with support a real question. Lake Aircraft is dormant, and the type certificate and assets were offered for sale around 2020. A buyer today is shopping a used, low-production certified amphibian, so parts availability and technical support belong at the top of the pre-purchase diligence list.
• A high-performance airplane that asks for training. At 250 hp the Renegade requires the high-performance endorsement, and flying-boat handling on the water adds a skill set beyond land-only operation. The payoff for that complexity is capability and water access, not speed.

See Also

• Lake LA-4-200 Buccaneer – the smaller, less powerful four-seat sibling in the same amphibian line. Compare
• De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver – the classic certified bush utility hauler, an alternative for the float-and-remote mission. Compare
• ICON A5 – the two-seat sport-pilot amphibian at the opposite end of the size and cost scale. Compare