If you were wondering what happened to the Seawind, they have been quietly making painstakingly slow progress in their quest to certify the Seawind in Canada and the U.S. What they lacked in funding, they have made up in a resolve to succeed. Seawind has just released that it took a year of flight development to try to overcome a regulation that requires an aircraft, even if it totally loses power and enters a deep stall and then a spin, the aircraft must recover in one turn without the use of any power.

Because of its amphibious design with the high mounted engine, a wind-milling propeller at zero thrust condition blocks the airflow over the rudder and makes it less than effective. The Seawind passed every other test and spent a year in flight development, trying different configurations to energize the air across the rudder. A parachute was not an option because it has to connect at the location of the propeller. Seawind took the bold step and decided to develop a stick shaker and pusher system. If an aircraft won't stall, then you can't put it in a spin.

Exploring new ground, Seawind set out to develop the first General Aviation Stall/Spin Prevention System (SPS). After another year and half of development and testing, Seawind has successfully developed and flight tested a new SPS.

The sexy sculptured Seawind will be the first single engine, Part 23, General Aviation Aircraft to have an SPS system. Add to that, Seawind will be the fastest and first all composite amphibian to be certified and that is a truly major accomplishment. Richard Silva, the driving force behind the Seawind, added “without the efforts of John Taylor, our flight analyst, and our Flight Test Team at the Canada National Research Council, and Safe Flight Instrument Corp. we would not have been successful.”

“We were not out to set new developmental records, but we had to rise to the occasion and find a solution. The record we are not proud of is that the Seawind is probably the longest certification of a General Aviation Aircraft in history. The milestone ends the development and stability and control phase. We just need to make a series of performance flights to gather and record the statistical data and publish the numbers. They will be outstanding for an amphibian.”

“Production is poised to start and our production financing efforts are underway. We owe a lot to our fifty plus order holders and especially those who became investors in addition to ordering a Seawind. Having a full complement of plugs, molds, and assembly fixtures will speed up the production efforts. We are not done yet, but the sun is shining.”