Austrian and German company united Chinese financial backgrounds and finally will be a new European seaplane, the Dornier Seastar. After thirty years of this seaplane first taking off its production will start and according to the plans this summer Dornier present the first series product Seastar amphibious aircraft.
behind it in Aero Friedrichshafen
DORNIER SEAWINGS GmbH has selected Diamond Aircraft Industries Inc. (Canada) to produce the SEASTAR’s all composite airframe. The SEASTAR is the world’s most advanced amphibious aircraft, featuring a purpose built design, modern technology all composite corrosionfree airframe, modern glass cockpit, retractable tricycle landing gear and twin centreline mounted industry leading Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 turboprop engines.
“We’re excited to be producing the airframe for the Dornier Seastar” said Peter Maurer, President and CEO of Diamond Aircraft Industries Inc. (Canada). “It is a sophisticated and substantial aircraft with an MTOW of over 10,000 lbs and capacity to carry 2 crew plus up to 12 passengers. Thanks to its unique design features the SEASTAR is superior in every important measure such as speed, range, endurance, direct operating cost, to name a few. While the large fuselage and one piece wing are bigger than the typical Diamond components, our production of similarly sized structures for the D-JET program and other contracts, gives us the experience and ability to complete this challenging task.
Although the Seastar is entirely different than any Diamond model, there are significant similarities in design philosophy and production methods that make this an excellent fit. Both Diamond and Seastar aircraft designs feature no life limit composite airframes with failsafe and redundant design concepts, both are produced using low temperature, out-of-autoclave curing processes for better field reparability and both take a similar overall design approach to safety. We are confident that the Seastar will be a great success and are pleased to be playing a role in its entry to the market worldwide.”
“We selected Diamond for several reasons”, said Dr. Albert Halder, President and CEO of Dornier Seawings GmbH. “Diamond was responsive to our needs, has the necessary experience, resources and facilities and their airplanes are known for their high build quality. We will work very closely with Diamond, with our specialists resident at Diamond’s London facility to oversee the progress, support tooling and process development, and to provide engineering and production liaison with our team in Germany.
in Oberpfaffenhofen, according to Dornier family tradition
The initial contract, for the manufacture of the first ten shipsets, with options for subsequent units, includes significant tooling work to ready the Seastar for higher volume production. The first flightworthy components are in production, with delivery of the first airframe to the Dornier Seawings facilities in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, for final assembly and completion, scheduled for Q2 2016.
(Dornier Seawings press release)
Recommended link to other Dornier cousin
Nice plane, I flew a PBY6-A Catalina by some years here in Colombia.
Is there an estimated market price