Flotation pontoons installed on a YT-1300 freighter
Flotation pontoons were gas-filled devices designed to provide buoyancy in water, allowing a starship to make aquatic landings and remain afloat.
Description[]
A flotation pontoon was a device filled with a gas[1] that provided buoyancy in water.[1][2] Pontoons could be used to build boats,[2] or be fitted to the underside of starships that made occasional water landings.[1] Pontoons could either be rigid or inflatable.[1]
History[]
Corellian Engineering Corporation's YT-1300 light freighter had the option to have flotation pontoons fitted to its underside for water landings. These pontoons could be filled with pressurized gas, or the ship's landing jets could be modified to divert gas into the pontoons. Despite this, the YT-1300 was perfectly capable of making emergency water landings without pontoons, so long as it was properly maintained.[1]
The Millennium Falcon activated its flotation pontoons
The Millennium Falcon was fitted with flotation pontoons. These pontoons helped save Han Solo and Chewbacca after the pair made a splash landing on a droid planet.[3]
Resistance cadet Dec Hansen once rigged together a pontoon boat. He and his brother, AG-90, used the boat on Ques to see how far downriver they could go. Dec later recounted this adventure to Harra the Hutt.[2]
Behind the scenes[]
Flotation pontoons were first mentioned in the forty-fourth issue of the magazine Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon, published by De Agostini[4] around November 4, 2015.[5] They are based on the real-word pontoons used on boats, floats and planes.[6]
Appearances[]
"Powered Down, Part 1" — Star Wars Adventures (2017) 10 (First appearance)- Join the Resistance: Escape from Vodran (and audiobook) (Mentioned only)
Sources[]
- Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon 44 Secrets of Spaceflight: Landing on Water (First mentioned)
- YT-1300 Millennium Falcon Owners' Workshop Manual
- Star Wars: Millennium Falcon: A 3D Owner's Guide
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 YT-1300 Millennium Falcon Owners' Workshop Manual
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Join the Resistance: Escape from Vodran
- ↑
"Powered Down, Part 1" — Star Wars Adventures (2017) 10
- ↑
Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon 44 Secrets of Spaceflight: Landing on Water
- ↑ The second issue of the De Agostini weekly magazine Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon was set to be published on January 14, 2015, according to
De Agostini Publishing: Build the Millennium Falcon Magazine & Model by Chris Wyman on TheForce.net (January 8, 2015) (backup link archived on November 6, 2016). Therefore, Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon 44 was published around November 4, 2015.
- ↑ Pontoon on Wikipedia
