Progressive Aerodyne SeaRey
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The SeaRey is an amphibious flying boat: a fabric-covered hull, a high wing, a Rotax 912 mounted as a pusher above the cabin, and wheels that retract into the hull so it can operate from water or a runway. It is by a wide margin the most popular amphibian in the light sport category.
It is slow — 85 knots — and the useful load of about 530 lb is tight with two adults and fuel, and neither of those matters much to the people who buy one, because the point is landing on water. Ownership is more demanding than a landplane: corrosion is a constant concern, the hull needs inspection, and a seaplane rating and real water training are essential because water operations are where SeaReys get damaged. Most examples are amateur-built kits rather than factory light sport aircraft, and which one you are looking at changes the maintenance rules entirely.
Variants of the Progressive Aerodyne SeaRey
- SeaRey · 1992 · 1 active · this page
- SeaRey LSA · 1992 · 106 active
Also consider
- Taylorcraft BC12-DScore 30.7/50 · 2 seats · 85 kt
- Champion 7FCScore 32.1/50 · 2 seats · 85 kt
- Luscombe 8A (registered as LUSCOMBE)Score 25/50 · 2 seats · 87 kt
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One email a day if anything changes: new ADs and NTSB records.
What it is
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tricycle |
| Engines | 1 |
| Engine | Rotax 912 ULS |
| Horsepower | 100 hp |
| Fuel | 100LL |
| Certification basis | LSA |
| Production start | 1992 |
| Production end | current |
| Endorsements required | — |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 85 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 400 nm |
| Service ceiling | 15,000 ft |
| Climb rate | 700 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 39 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | — |
| Landing over 50 ft | — |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 530 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | 392 lb |
| Max takeoff weight | 1,430 lb |
| Empty weight | 900 lb |
| Usable fuel | 23 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | 5.6 gal/h |
Estimated cost to own
An estimate, not a quote. Change the inputs to match how you would fly it. Defaults are for a complex or high-performance single.
| Fuel (burn × price) | hourly | $41/h | $4,150/yr |
| Engine reserve (overhaul ÷ TBO) | hourly | $1,150/yr | |
| Maintenance reserve | hourly | not counted | |
| Insurance | fixed | $3,500/yr | |
| Annual inspection | fixed | $3,000/yr | |
| Hangar | fixed | $6,000/yr | |
| Rental rate, wet | for comparison |
Not in the totals: Maintenance reserve, Rental rate (for rent vs own). We have no reliable default for these lines; enter your figure to include them.
How these estimates are built. Fuel = this model's typical burn x the national average price from AirNav's Fuel Price Report (100LL $7.41, Jet A $7.66 per gallon, 5 Oct 2026; your airport may differ by $2 or more). Engine reserve = typical overhaul cost / TBO for this engine. The remaining lines are class-level defaults, not quotes for this aircraft: annual inspection is the base inspection fee (findings are counted in the per-hour maintenance line); insurance assumes an instrument-rated owner with time in type and a $1M liability limit - less experienced pilots commonly pay 1.5-2x; hangar and tie-down are national mid-tier figures, with rural and metro options; the rental rate is a 2026 flight-school rate for a comparable aircraft, including fuel. Twin and turboprop maintenance defaults are estimates, not published figures. Sources: AirNav, BWI Aviation Insurance (2019-2026), Flying (May 2026), Savvy Aviation, American Flight Schools, published airport rate sheets. Every default is editable - change any number to match your situation. Depreciation, taxes, financing and major upgrades are not included. Depreciation is not included. An estimate, not a quote.
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $35,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $165,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | 2,000 h |
| Overhaul cost, low | $18,000 |
| Overhaul cost, high | $28,000 |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 4 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 1 |
| Median year built | 2001.0 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 1 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 0 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | — |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | — |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 0 |
| Transfers per 100 active | — |
| Airworthiness directives | 0 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | none |
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 1-2 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | 0.6 of 101 |
| Severity | 6.6 of 102 |
| Access | 2.6 of 103 |
| Support | 9.3 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 8.2 of 105 |
| Overall (sum of the categories shown) | 27.3 out of 506 |
These record scores treat Progressive Aerodyne SeaRey as one design with the same aircraft registered under other names: it includes 106 aircraft registered as PROGRESSIVE AERODYNE INC SEAREY LSA; includes 98 aircraft registered under Progressive Aerodyne; includes 2 aircraft registered under AERONAUTICAL SYSTEMS ASOC INC; includes 1 aircraft registered under ADAMS WALTER R; includes 1 aircraft registered under ADDISON KENNEITH F JR; includes 1 aircraft registered under AMADOR FRANK D; includes 1 aircraft registered under AMETER RUSS; includes 1 aircraft registered under ANKENBRUCK WAYNE; includes 1 aircraft register. Prices are not combined.
- Accident record: class median 31.56 · 197 models in class.
- Severity: class median 10.
- Access: class median 1,000.75.
- Support: class median 89.
- Liquidity: class median 19.74.
- Each of the five categories places the model within its peer class, from 0 (the worst of the class) to 10 (the best): a position among comparable models, not a grade. The overall score is the sum of the categories shown that are scored, out of 10 for each (50 when all five are); it is given only when at least 4 of the five are scored, and it can be set against another model's only when both are in the same peer class and scored on the same categories. When accident record and severity cannot be scored because the model has too few records, the other three give a partial score out of 30, labelled as such; it is never set against a full score.
Data as of: FAA registry Sep 28 · NTSB Oct 2 · ADs Oct 6 · scores Sep 30