Dornier Seastar

The Dornier Seastar is a turboprop-powered amphibious flying boat built largely of composite materials. Claudius Dornier Jr of Germany developed it, and it first flew in 1984. The design belongs to his son Conrado, who founded Dornier Seawings to continue the work after two earlier firms, Claudius Dornier Aircraft and Dornier Composite Aircraft, went bankrupt. Three aircraft had been built when development stopped in 1991, and for years afterwards attempts to start production, including joint ventures in Malaysia and plans for factories in Canada, kept failing for lack of money. In 2013 Chinese companies from Wuxi bought the programme, with the Dornier family keeping a minority stake, and the improved CD2 first flew on 28 March 2020. It is a parasol wing flying boat with two Pratt and Whitney Canada PT6A-112 engines in one push-pull nacelle above the wing, a fibreglass composite hull, fuel carried in the sponsons, and a cabin for up to 12 passengers. Its layout recalls the Dornier Do J Wal and Do 18.