The Seawind amphibian may yet make it to the long-elusive certification finish line, if the company can raise the next round of funding it needs. The airplane drew a loyal following for its kit version, which is no longer in production, but efforts to achieve certification have run into numerous delays. When the only flying prototype and its pilot were lost in a flight-test accident last year, that seemed like the end of the story. Now Seawind President Richard Silva says that he's been encouraged by an "overwhelming" outpouring of support from the Seawind pilot community, and he's ready to move forward with the certification project. He said he needs to raise $2 million to complete certification and it will cost $2 million to ramp up production. "We did not give up, and we have our production facility secured. If it is at all possible, we will resume operations, and the Seawind will be coming back," he said this week.
The company still holds its production assets and a 82,000-square-foot facility at Saint-Jean Airport in Quebec. Check the AVweb Web site tomorrow for an in-depth podcast interview with Silva by AVweb editor Russ Niles.
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The Seawind amphibian may yet make it to the long-elusive certification finish line, if the company can raise the next round of funding it needs. The airplane drew a loyal following for its kit version, which is no longer in production, but efforts to achieve certification have run into numerous delays. When the only flying prototype and its pilot were lost in a flight-test accident last year, that seemed like the end of the story. Now 
