While it's fair to say the Seeker Aircraft SB7L-360A2 will never be the sexiest airplane on any airport ramp, every inch of its airframe was designed with the singular purpose of providing a long-legged aerial surveillance platform rivalling the capabilities of many rotorcraft.
The bulbous, Hughes 500-esque cockpit provides 270-degree visibility, and its pusher-mounted, 210-hp Lycoming IO-390A1A6 turning a wood, two-blade, fixed-pitch prop minimizes the aircraft's infrared signature. Multiple strakes, stall fences, and vortex generators dot the wings and empennage, all contributing to the aircraft's docile slow-flight characteristics.
It's also fair to say the Seeker has suffered through an arduous gestation process. Designed in Australia and initially assembled in Amman, Jordan, by Seabird Aviation, the aircraft has attracted relatively few customers since its late-1990s introduction. That's a situation Seeker Aircraft, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Albuquerque, New Mexico-based CSI Aviation, intends to change through a dedicated marketing effort highlighting the Seeker's distinct advantages over fixed- and rotary-wing competitors.
"The Seeker is made to work in austere conditions from unimproved runway surfaces, supporting police and border patrol, drug interdiction, human smuggling interdiction, and poaching interdiction, as well as military ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] applications,” Seeker Aircraft president Ed Lundeen, who also serves as managing director for Seabird Aviation Australia, told AIN.
The aircraft's slow-flight performance and 6.5-hour loiter time also make the Seeker an ideal platform for powerline and pipeline patrol, as does its $484,500 base price. "Initial acquisition costs are significantly lower than [those of] a [Robinson] R44 or Cessna 206," Lundeen said, "but direct operating costs are where we really shine.
"With fuel at $6.10 a gallon the cost-per-hour is around $71," he continued. "The entire aircraft was designed to provide high mean time between failures—it just doesn't break—and nearly all parts save for the composites and [airframe] skins are commercial off-the-shelf items. That's bad news for me—we lose a serious revenue stream by not being able to mark up parts—but it's great for the customer in the field."
Designed for ISR
A 2005 study conducted for the U.S. Department of Defense tested that durability against the heat, blowing dirt, and sand of battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan. The aircraft logged 52 flight hours across 36 operations, many of them from a two-lane blacktop road, with engine oil and cylinder head temperatures remaining within normal limits in ambient temps up to 105 degrees F. The sole operational squawk noted in the report was resolved by cleaning the contacts on the starter motor.
The airplane is most at home in aerial surveillance roles, flying at 65 knots while loitering at between 8,000 and 10,000 feet, miles away from any unfriendlies. "There's no single, defined mission package," Lundeen continued. "We can do anything from forward-looking infrared [FLIR] to Wescam [camera] balls and even augmented reality. You can literally read license plates."
One area in which the company may face an uphill battle is against the proliferation of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in surveillance roles. Lundeen counters the Seeker maintains advantages in acquisition cost and operational safety against large UAS. It also affords greater security and data privacy because it does not require a constant data link between aircraft and ground, he said. Of course, the Seeker can also operate in any airspace without concerns about line-of-sight issues or conflicting with manned aircraft.
The various aerodynamic aids on the Seeker—including leading edge cuffs, Frise ailerons, and a moveable vane below the fuselage linked to the rudder pedals—improve its slow-flight performance. “None of that stuff stuck to the airframe makes this plane fast," quipped company demonstration pilot Geoff VeneKlasen, "but it does make it incredibly stable. You can fly out of the deep stall with power with just a minimal decrease to angle of attack. This plane is just not going to bite you.”
VeneKlasen demonstrated their effectiveness while simulating at altitude a base-to-final "graveyard" turn, in which the pilot overshoots the runway and cross-controls the aircraft while attempting to recapture the centerline. "Most aircraft go over on their backs, and that’s the end," he continued. "Here, we're in a powered stall in a 45-degree turn with full opposite rudder, and all it does is increase the descent rate. No adverse yaw, no wing break.”
For the moment, Seekers come from the factory in Queensland, Australia. The company signed an agreement with Erickson Helicopters (Booth C1338) in 2016 to supplement production in the U.S., and ultimately both lines will be capable of building approximately 50 aircraft annually. Lundeen added that all Seekers going forward will be produced as A2 models like the demo aircraft, rather than the original A series with its 168-hp Lycoming O-360.
"The Seeker was clearly developed as an ISR platform, with a natural role in law enforcement around the world," he concluded. "There were many fits and starts in arriving to this point, but I think we've identified our niche.”
