EP 121 — Tidal Flight's Jude Augustine On Building The First Clean Sheet Seaplane In Decades

Seaplane design hasn't changed since the 1950s. Jude Augustine, Co-Founder and CEO of Tidal Flight, is building Polaris, a hybrid electric amphibious aircraft designed to turn a four-hour coastal trip into two hours door to door while giving the military runway independence in the Pacific. Polaris is the launchpad for Tidal to grow into a next-generation aircraft manufacturer with a vision for aircraft across categories.Before even raising a seed round, Jude and his Georgia Tech co-founders secured 10 letters of intent from seaplane and commuter airlines worldwide. Their dual use approach pairs commercial coastal mobility with contested logistics capability, backed by a supplier model that keeps capital needs low and risk focused on the novel systems that matter most.Topics discussed:- Why seaplane operating costs stayed high for decades and what changes now- Choosing a supplier model over vertical integration after seeing Beta Technologies- Securing 10 airline letters of intent before raising a seed round- Building a series hybrid powertrain using the DeltaHawk compression ignition engine- Flying three 1:6 scale prototypes to prove hull hydrodynamics- Dual use strategy pairing commercial coastal mobility with Pacific defense missions- Saying no to defense funding that pulls away from the core aircraft program- Designing for autonomy readiness without building an autonomy suiteListen to more episodes: Apple Spotify YouTubeWebsite