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	Interesting story on the latest Seawind developments:<br /><br />		Attachments: Seawind

Kent Koester - Dec 27,2013 Viewers | Reply


	Reminds me of my visit to the BD-5 plant in Newton, Kansas years ago; except Bede's price was way lower than a half-mil. <br /><br />I esp. like the part where Seawind had to demonstrate a stable glide; bigger rudder??


	I don't generally like to go all 'Major Grumpy' on a posting, but Other <br />than Possibly Bede, I can't think of <br />a plane or a plane company owner with a worse reputation. This guy <br />has sued so many people at the <br />drop of a hat that he should be called 'the mad hatter'. Apparently his <br />daughter is a lawyer with way too <br />much time on her hands. I've inspected more than one seawind <br />personally and you couldn't pay me <br />money to fly in one. Watch YouTube of them landing or taking off from <br />water and make up your own <br />mind. And after speaking with the original designer of the plane at sun <br />n fun, I understand almost none <br />regularly lands them on water...just too risky. The two actual videos I <br />could find of sea winds taking off were 30 seconds and 48 seconds into <br />at least a 15 knot headwind.


	I have flown one, I have to agree with Ken, they are very scary on the water.


	I haven't looked lately, but so far I haven't found a video showing a full water takeoff from throttle-up to lift off. The company sure avoids those; they usually focus on the water taxiing and going up and down ramps.<br /><br />I saw one at the Greenville (ME) Seaplane fly-in one year; all it did was a couple of fast fly-by's over the lake, then landed up at the airport. He did not land on the water.

Don Maxwell - Dec 29,2013 Viewers | Reply


	I've seen several Seawind water takeoffs, and they all made me uncomfortable. Here's a relatively nice one: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9JDkLVD7YA">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9JDkLVD7YA</a>

Bruce McGregor - Dec 29,2013 Viewers | Reply


	In the comments section below the video, the pilot explains that the 48 seconds required for takeoff was due to using only 5 degrees of flaps. Look at the last frame; the flaps look more like 20 degrees. Remember that this airplane has 300 hp to pull it off the water!<!-- >'"><br><font color=red size=6>' or > missing in user HTML. Please fix the HTML.</font> -->


	I do remember that one now, Don (and your foot tripping lol). If he really did have four grown men on board, then that was actually a pretty good takeoff. I'd like to see more vids like this, but they are very rare for the Seawind. If the plane is that great on the water, you'd think the company would be showing off the takeoff runs, not avoiding them.<br /><br />My first flight instructor was a heavy-set guy with a 200 hp Lake Buccaneer. Took him FOREVER to get off the lake, especially if he had a passenger.

Don Maxwell - Dec 29,2013 Viewers | Reply


	What makes me uncomfortable watching a Seawind take off from water is how close those wingtips are to the water. A moment's inattention or a sudden gust could put one into the water, and if that happened at high waterspeed, it would be awkward. If that happens to a SeaRey, the float just pops loose, and no real harm is done.

Tom Binsfeld - Dec 29,2013 Viewers | Reply


	Take a look at part 2 at 5:13. A pretty good rough water video with a high speed wing tip contact. <a href="http://www.seawind.net/VIDEOS/seawind_video.html">http://www.seawind.net/VIDEOS/seawind_video.html</a>


	I can say from personal experience, that anyone in their <br />right mind should never get in a SeaWind. One that I <br />assisted in brokering crashed last January, killing both the <br />prospective buyer and the demo pilot. Another, one that <br />close friends of mine were <br />training in the Maule for their SES, left our lake, drove to <br />DeLand to get their Seawind, <br />and crashed on takeoff and went into a Publix <br />supermarket.. The water isn't what <br />should scare people. It's that high performance engine <br />sitting way up on the tail that is <br />starving for fuel. Sure, you lose your engine in a 172, or <br />even a SeaRey on takeoff, and <br />you can still control it. It is very unlikely you will survive an <br />engine failure in a Seawind. <br />They will pitch up, stall, and hit the ground before you know <br />it. Stay away....

David Geers - Dec 29,2013 Viewers | Reply


	Here's one that crashed in New Zealand, You must read the full report, it is just unbelievable.<br /><br />A widely respected pilot who died after his plane plunged into Lake Taupo in front of crowds of summer holidaymakers had repaired it with sticky tape just hours before the crash.<br /><br />John Borman, a New Zealand fixed-wing formation flying representative, was seriously injured and later died after the kitset amphibious plane he had spent thousands of hours building flipped and crashed at Lake Taupo. His wife Noeleen, the only passenger, suffered facial injuries and concussion.		Attachments: Seawind crash

Don Maxwell - Dec 30,2013 Viewers | Reply


	Yow. Painful reading.


	Wow. A combination of design flaws and very poor judgement.<br /><br />There are lakes in Maine where I simply will not operate my plane on during nice weekends, due to the boat and jet ski activity. Just too dangerous.

Dennis Scearce - Dec 30,2013 Viewers | Reply


	I know the feeling, Mark. I keep my plane on Lake Norman but have a hanger at a grass strip in Maiden, NC in case I can't get back on the water - usually the case on Saturday afternoons in the summer.

Frank A. Carr - Dec 30,2013 Viewers | Reply


	The last 4 paragraphs are thought provoking for those of us who have <br />had to perform field repairs.

Bruce McGregor - Dec 31,2013 Viewers | Reply


	Beyond these comments I took away some other thoughts from this well reasoned report:<P>1. Seawinds are tricky on water when an experienced in type instructor says to touchdown at 60 KT, plus or minus only 1 KT, or problems will occur.<P>2. Impact forces at 60 KT are considerably higher than the <40 KT touchdown of our SeaReys.<P>3. A solid bow structure like our airplanes will be stronger and offer more impact resistance than the bows of Seawinds (and Icons?) with holes for nose gears. [Yes, I remember the video of a deliberate SeaMax landing in water gear down, but the pilot kept the nose wheel mostly out of the water until the airplane slowed.]<!-- >'"><br><font color=red size=6>' or > missing in user HTML. Please fix the HTML.</font> -->


	Bruce, the seamax had the nose wheel ripped off the plane in that event. Don't think they published any <br />of the damage to the plane.

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