New Dornier Seastar completes first flight

German manufacturer Dornier Seawings is continuing to develop the New Generation Seastar amphibious aircraft with its third prototype, SN1003, making its first flight earlier this week.

The flight took place at Oberpfaffenhofen Airport, Germany, flown by a Dornier Seawings test pilot crew and took 31 minutes.

Wolfram Cornelius, Chief Test Pilot, said afterwards, “First flight was completed successfully and confirmed the nice handling qualities of the Seastar. All systems functioned correctly. The advanced avionic system reflects the state-of-the-art in cockpit design and is a good baseline for future development.”

The Seastar didn’t have a cockpit like this back in the 1980s! This is the New Generation’s state of the art flightdeck

The New Generation Seastar has significant changes from the original Seastar designed and developed by Claudius Dornier Jr in the 1980s.

It is equipped with:

• State-of-the-art full digital glass cockpit
• New highly efficient propellers
• Several systems including air-conditioning and stern thruster
• Corrosion-resistant composite structure.

It has two Pratt & Whitney PT6A-135A turboprop engines mounted fore and aft along the aircraft’s centreline. They provide 1,300hp flat-rated, giving a with take-off run of 2,244ft/684m on land and 3,445ft/1,050m on water.

The Dornier Seastar with its cabin configured for medevac duties

The Seastar’s role is short to medium haul on a variety of missions, including cargo, VIP, passenger and special missions such as air ambulance. Max cruise speed is 180ktas.

It’s a big aeroplane with a maximum takeoff weight is 5,100kg, wingspan 17.74m and overall height 4.73m.

Dornier Seastar