What a world. I had just landed the Dornier Seastar flying boat in the Gulf of Mexico a few miles off the Florida coast. We shut down the engines and were sitting on top of the Seastar cabin enjoying the view and wishing for a fishing pole when Dornier Seaplane Co. CEO Joe Walker called the chairman, Conrado Dornier, on his cell phone.
Conrado was somewhere in Europe when he answered his phone, and his first comment to me about the Seastar was “That is one terrific boat you have under you.” That struck me, as an airplane guy, as the most revealing aspect of the Seastar. It is a good boat that flies, not an airplane that has been adapted to the water. And that makes all the difference in the world when you are miles from shore.
