The Sea Storm is an Italian

homebuilt Homebuilt machines are machines built outside of specialised workshops or factories. This can include different things such as kit cars or homebuilt computers, but normally it pertains to homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or ...

amphibious Amphibious means able to use either land or water. In particular it may refer to: Animals * Amphibian, a vertebrate animal of the class Amphibia (many of which live on land and breed in water) * Amphibious caterpillar * Amphibious fish, a fish ...

flying boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...

that was designed and produced by Storm Aircraft of Sabaudia. Storm Aircraft was originally called ''SG Aviation srl''. When it was available the aircraft was supplied as a kit for amateur construction.Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition'', page 245. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998.

Design and development

The Sea Storm features a cantilever

shoulder-wing A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

, a two-seats-in-

side-by-side configuration Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. The original use of the term in English was in ''tandem harness'', which is used for two ...

, with four seats optional, an enclosed cockpit under a hinged canopy, retractable

conventional landing gear Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...

and a single engine in

pusher configuration In an aircraft with a pusher configuration (as opposed to a tractor configuration), the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). Since a pusher propeller is mounted behind the engine, the drive shaft is in compression in nor ...

. There are two small airfoil sponsons for water balance mounted low on the

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

. The aircraft has a highly swept fin and rudder. The aircraft wings are made from

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

sheet with some fibreglass parts, while the hull is composite. Its span wing mounts large flaps and has a wing area of . The cabin width is . The acceptable power range is and the standard engine used is the Lycoming O-235 powerplant. The Sea Storm has a typical empty weight of and a gross weight of , giving a useful load of . With full fuel of the payload for pilot, passenger and baggage is . The standard day, sea level, no wind, take off on land with a engine is and the landing roll is . On the water the take-off run is and the landing run is for the two place version. The manufacturer estimated the construction time from the supplied kit as 700 hours or 550 hours from the quick-build kit.

Operational history

By 1998 the company reported that 25 kits had been sold and 12 aircraft were completed and flying. In February 2014 one example was registered in the United States with the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

, although two had been registered at one time.

Specifications (Sea Storm)

References

External links

Photo of the two seat versionPhoto of the four seat version
{{Portal bar, Italy, Companies, Aviation Sea Storm 1990s Italian sport aircraft 1990s Italian ultralight aircraft 1990s Italian civil utility aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Shoulder-wing aircraft Homebuilt aircraft