Great Neck Company at Home on Land and Sea

Great Neck Patch spoke this week with Richard Rofe, president and CEO of . Based in Great Neck, the company imports, sells and distributes the SeaMax line of light sport amphibian aircraft.

Question. What is SeaMax and when was it founded and by whom?

Answer.  SeaMax America, LLC was founded by me in 2011 and it’s the exclusive importer for the US, Canada, Mexico and China for AirMax Construções Aeronáuticas Ltd, makers of the SeaMax M-22 which is an amphibious special light sport aircraft manufactured in Brazil.

Q. What is your market—private buyers, safety services, etc.  Who needs a seaplane?

A. Our market is pilots and aspiring pilots who only need a sport pilots certificate, which is a new classification of pilot license created in 2004 by the FAA.  The sport pilot is limited to flying small two-seat light aircraft in good weather but requires less money and time to get licensed. More info on our website under Sport Flying.  This isn’t just a seaplane, it’s a go anywhere plane, land, grass, snow, sea etc., and anyone who wants to get around fast and cheaply would need/want one. We access remote destinations better than any other form of transportation. For instance this week I had a breakfast meeting in NYC and then lunch on Martha’s Vineyard and dinner in Montauk.

Q. Who is your competition or, alternatively, what spot in the market do you fill?

A. Currently we are the only available S-LSA certified flying boat type of amphibian plane with more than 130 planes flying worldwide.  The Akoya and the Icon A5 are trying to become competitors but have been trying for 8 and 7 years respectively and neither even has a factory yet. 

Q. Why are you in Great Neck?

A. I have been an entrepreneur for 30 years in Great Neck, starting in the apparel business and then the video business and then in NYC for 10 years with a chicken wing company and back to GN for a software company and a hedge fund also in GN and finally SeaMax.  I moved to GN at 12 and have lived there ever since with some time in Arizona and Washington DC and NYC. Great Neck is close to my boat, the city, the water and has everything I need to run my companies.

Q. How many employees in your company?

A. This company currently has only 3 but prior I had 30 at my software company also headquartered in GN and 7 at my hedge fund also in GN.

Q.  Who manufactures your planes? And where?

A. The plane is made by AirMax Construções Aeronáuticas in our brand-new factory in Sao Paulo Brazil.

Q.  What does a seaplane cost?

 A. An M-22 costs about 150k.  A larger standard seaplane costs about 450k

 Q. What special skills are required to fly a seaplane as opposed another kind of aircraft? Is there something that sets seaplane enthusiasts apart from other pilots?

A. You need seaplane training and endorsement. You need to enjoy going to remote places or just enjoy the extra safety aspect of being able to land almost anywhere since there is more water on earth than land.  Seaplane pilots tend to be more adventurous just because of the nature of the destinations available to them.

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Q.  You recently won an award—can you tell us about that? And what are you up to this week or month?

A. We went to our first trade show, the second largest aircraft show in the US and we won an Award for Best Light Sport Aircraft because our plane is so unique, versatile, economical, good looking and fun.  This week we are at Airventure in Oshkosh Wisc., which is the largest aircraft show in the world and is a week-long and gets over 500,000 visitors.

Q. What else can you tell us about your business?

A. We are the most prolific certified Special Light Sport Amphibious aircraft in the world.  We are just now marketing for the first time and expect to grow dramatically as people find out how easy and inexpensive and fun it is to own a SeaMax and as the entire category of sport flying becomes more popular.  Our plane isn’t just a seaplane it’s a go anywhere plane and in fact, I use it 70% at airports and on land and 30% in the water.