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Sea glider boat plane testing on Tampa Bay
Lloyd Sowers reports
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - On New Year’s Day 1914, Tony Janus, piloting a flying boat, made Tampa Bay the site of the first-ever airline flight. Now, a new kind of flying boat is to be tested on the bay starting in January.
It’s an electric-powered sea glider that would fly just above the water.
"The sea glider is the next generation of coastal transportation," says Billy Thalheimer, CEO and co-founder of Regent, the Boston-based company behind the new flying boat.
Thalheimer says a quarter-scale version of the 12-passenger sea glider will start testing in waters off Port Tampa and MacDill Air Force Base sometime in January.
He says the bay’s protected, open, and deep waters, along with the area’s weather, were big factors in selecting the testing site. He says local leaders encouraged it because of what it could lead to.
"This is something that can go into production and maybe Tampa Bay can be the place where they’re producing these and they can employ people," says Steve Morley, executive vice president of the Tampa Bay Economic Development Council.
On the 1914 flying boat named Benoit, St. Pete’s mayor was the first passenger. The new version is getting similar support.
"If we can provide our residents with something that’s more energy-efficient, more climate-friendly, and less stressful, I think it’s a great thing," says outgoing St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman.
Its designers say the electric-powered sea glider would have a range of 180 miles between charges.
Early versions, due out in 2025, will carry around 12 passengers where transportation is needed between coastal cities.
"How do we get people from Tampa up and down the coast of Florida or Key West, or even to Cuba?" asked Thalheimer. "How do we get people from Boston to New York, L.A. to San Francisco?"
He says the sea glider will do that faster and more efficiently than any current mode.
Regent has already made a deal to sell 20 electric sea gliders to Southern Airways Express based in Palm Beach.