Iren Dornier is capable of manufacturing weekly one Dornier S-Ray 007 two-seater pilot training amphibian in his new factory at Clark, a former US military airbase in the neighborhood of Manila.

On our way back from the Singapore Airshow we took a little turn to Manila to see how the Dornier S-Ray 007 is being made and how it works at the test flights.

The composite fuselages of two pilot lot planes are being assembled in the former US military airbase. We have seen the wing, the cabin and the tail made up of composite. Everything is ready for series production.

They use two airplanes for test flights, the German plane flew already more than 500 hours in Europe, the other one flies every day here in Clark.

At the beginning of February, we had a close view at two takeoffs and intermediate works.

First, they tested the two small wings (water profiles) that were built into the nose of the fuselage in order to let the plane carry more weight even when taking off from water surface.

They expect to raise the take off weight up to 800 kgs. At the present this value is 600-650 kgs for the German plane and 700-750 kgs without the small wings.

They also improved the capacity of the fuel tank: instead of the original 50-liter volume now it can contain 80 liters since it is now placed in the lower swimming stabilizer, not in the upper wing.

At the present they are going to find the right propeller type, they tested it at the second takeoff. Instead of the fixed-pitch propeller they now tried out a controllable one. Iren Dornier said it was too heavy and the motor did not work at the appropriate speed of rotation. All in all, it did not meet the expectations.

Hermann Beck-Fritsch, the test pilot of the German plane also took his part of the work. He flew 87 airplane types in his life, he also flew more than 1000 hours with the F-104 Starfighter interceptor aircraft, called the Flying Coffin or Widowmaker. At the present he is an Airbus captain.

At the end of the day, the gentlemen came together in the office, Iren Dornier dictated the test flight records to an engineer and they made a voice conference with another engineer from Germany to discuss the things to do next.

They just speeded up the development of this type because they are ready for the series production here in Asia, they have more than 50 orders from around the world, but for now all they planes are experiment-rated machines. They are willing to obtain the Dornier S-Ray 007 type licence in a few months.

They will ship the heavy load wing for the German plane to their homeland soon. The deveolper is bound to the 100-year traditions of his family: for ever and ever, a Dornier has to take a new plane’s water licence tests on the Boden lake near Friedrichshafen.

Previous articels:
Video: Iren Dornier on Sclaria Air Callenge
Video: Scalaria Air Challenge 2009

Suggested links:
Dornier S-Ray 007