The World Seair Corp Seair is an American ultralight trike

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 World Seair Corporation. The aircraft was supplied as a completed, read-to-fly aircraft and introduced in July 1998.Cliche, Andre: ''Ultralight Aircraft Shopper's Guide'' 8th Edition, page C-22. Cybair Limited Publishing, 2001. A successor company, Seair Technologies currently produces a similar concept, but different design aircraft, the Seair Technologies Seair Flying Boat that first flew circa 2002.

Design and development

The Seair was designed as a US

FAR 103 Ultralight Vehicles Ultralight aircraft in the United States are much smaller and lighter than ultralight aircraft as defined by all other countries. In the United States, ultralights are described as "ultralight vehicles" and not as aircraft. They are not requ ...

two-seat trainer. The aircraft has a standard empty weight of . It features a cable-braced

hang glider Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised foot-launched heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered ...

-style

high-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 ...

, weight-shift controls, a two-seats-in- tandem open cockpit, inflatable boat hull 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 ...

. The aircraft consists of a rigid-bottomed hull, with four independent air chambers, plus two inflatable outriggers. The trike wing is made from bolted-together

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 ...

tubing, with its single surface wing covered in

Dacron Polyethylene terephthalate (or poly(ethylene terephthalate), PET, PETE, or the obsolete PETP or PET-P), is the most common thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family and is used in fibres for clothing, containers for liquids and foods ...

sailcloth. The span wing is supported by a single tube-type kingpost and uses an "A" frame control bar. An optional water

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...

is controlled by foot pedals. An instrument panel is provided near the bow of the hull. The standard factory-supplied engine was the twin cylinder,

two-stroke A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a Thermodynamic power cycle, power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being comple ...

, air-cooled Rotax 503 of , with the liquid-cooled Rotax 582 of optional. The hull can be deflated and the wing folded for storage, ground transportation or stowage on a larger vessel. The aircraft can be assembled for flight in 20 minutes.

Specifications (Seair)

References

{{reflist 1990s United States ultralight aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Ultralight trikes