True fiber composites are copies of the living fiber technology of nature, applied in every plant and creature. It is the engineering material of the future for all transportation systems.
Our homogeneous and jointless one piece sandwich structure consists of fewer parts, specific metal parts. Extensive use of the flexible fiber for slotless flaps at leading and trailing edges, ailerons and rudder are integrated parts of the jointless fiber structure. It gives the Equator STOL cababilities. Our system is a selfsupporting fiber doubleshell with hardfoam, without the usual reinforcements. This rigid material gives the unsurpassed strength against high dynamic longtime stresses, is virtually undestroyable, durable and not subject to fatigue or corrosion. The sandwich system is absorbing vibrations and insolating as well. We use carbon-fiber, bulletproof aramid-fiber and fiberglass. It needs hardly any maintenance, and is easy and quick to repair, also in the field. All antennas are protected due to internal mounting.
A gift of the system is the air- and water-tight cabin. The billions of closed cells of the hard foam of the sandwich make the saltwater resistant amphibian unsinkable.
An Equator is not undestroyable on the long run, but it can theoretically reach the age of its natural akin objects, the sequoia trees – comparing the fibre based design.
It is for certain that our great-grandchildren can still fly it, hopefully with improved engines, being operated with regenerative bio-fuels, while the metal airplanes of same age have then already been recycled or disintegrated by corrosion.
The aerodynamically timeless design will still enjoy the viewer. Not before this time the real value of this unusual airplane maybe evaluated objectively.
Technology & Ecology
The increasingly widespread recognition of the fact that technology must fit into the natural world, enhancing its values for us, not destroying them, has determined our thinking in developing the Equator. Terms such as laminar and aerodynamic express this search for the relationships between flight-technology and the elements of water, air and earth, our flight-environment.The Equator fits into this flight-environment so organically that the pleasure of flying is increased by the intensified experience of the nature of these elements: the acceleration in the water, the transition from water to air, the unobstructed view of the earth, the natural ease of touch down.This deepened experince and increased enjoyment, together with the astounding beauty of the Equator all of which are co-products of our technical work lead us to think that we have discovered a new and universal law, which may be expressed as follows: The better a product is related to the total natural environment, the better and more efficient the technology becomes.This is a radical departure from the commonly held view of that nature and technology are at odds with each other, that they are necessarily in opposition. Our experience leads us to think that this is the case only there where a technology – in spite of, or perhaps, because of its successes, though failure to take all of the factors concerned into consideration, has remained under-developed.It is our conviction that in proportion to, and as a result of, increased understanding of nature, its elements, and all of its laws, a better and more efficient technology will evolve. We would like to consider the Equator a forerunner of this technology which we envision for the future.