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Ground Effect Flying Boat

Posted by michael on from the miami-vice dept.

Stalke writes "A company called Flightship has produced the worlds first commercial flying boat that operates on the principle of ground-effect. I first saw these types of craft on TLC when they showed a huge soviet landing craft based upon the same principle. The first commercial version of this craft has a capacity of only 6 passengers, but a larger version called the Dragon Clipper will seat 40! Check out the videos on the site, this thing really is a sight to see."

8 of 182 comments (clear)

  1. FAA? by doubtless · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If this gets to the stetes, would it be under the FAA? Will the pilot be required to have an aircraft pilot's license? The article is short on details, I was just curious if anybody has an answer.

    --
    geek page at KY speaks
    1. Re:FAA? by ceejayoz · · Score: 2, Interesting

      If this gets to the stetes, would it be under the FAA? Will the pilot be required to have an aircraft pilot's license?

      Doubtful - it's more like a hydrofoil or a hovercraft, doesn't go more than a few feet off the water.

    2. Re:FAA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      When hovercrafts were introduced to the UK military, there was a lot of argument about whether they should be controlled by the Navy or RAF. Political of course, but they go so much faster than boats that the skills required are possibly more like a pilot's than a sailors... anyway AFAIK commercial hovercraft pilots in the UK still need a private pilot's license! Can anyone correct me on this?

  2. Re:Uses? by blufive · · Score: 2, Interesting
    low-level flight over water? What's the trouble with good old boats?
    Speed. A fast ship does about 30-40 knots, a big Wing In Ground Effect vehicle can do 300+. While carrying a coupla hundred tons of cargo. It's kind of a mid-way point between a cargo ship and air freight. Whether such things are commercially viable given the incredible conservatism of the world's aviation industry is another matter entirely.
    The Worlds Fastest Ground Effect Vehicle
    At the 85 knots quoted in the article, it's still a loooong way short of the old soviet Ekranoplans (the 550 ton KM model did 500 km/h - about 300 mph )
    I still don't see any real advantage of this design since I first heard about it.
    The soviet military wanted to use them as landing craft. Think about it. One vehicle, that can carry two main battle tanks and a few dozen troops, at 300 mph, across a few hundred miles of water. A few dozen of them, and presto! instant amphibious assault force.
  3. Re:No Certification needed by lrichardson · · Score: 4, Interesting
    > The FAA ruled quite a while ago that a craft that has to stay in "ground effect" to create lift is not an aircraft and thus isn't regulated by them. A hovercraft actually falls in the same catagory because it to flys in ground effect, it just does it in a completely different way.

    The key word is 'has'. Some GE vehicles are just underpowered planes ... they can exceed the GE limit, but fly like a drunk duck.

    The first real application of GE was WWII, when certain bombers found that they could ride the effect over water, decreasing fuel consumption, and, if rumours can be believed, allowing one of the first autopilots - just blocking the stick in the direction they wanted, altitude takes care of itself. Which works well over water, not so good over land ... and is one of the reasons why a lot of the designers (Fischer leaps to mind) don't want to see these in the hands of the civil populace ... a vehicle that can drive itself 99% is going to crash an awful lot when the driver/pilot needs to add that last 1% .

  4. XtremeXplorer Ground Effect Vehicle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    A similar product is being offered by Amphistar. I drive by their hangar everyday in Norfolk, VA. But I have only seen an XtremeXplorer outside once. The XtremeXplorer is in regular use in the Bahamas (according to the web site). And it looks like a lot of their pilots are Russian. They even claim to have the pilot of the "Caspian Sea Monster" (the 747 sized plane as seen on TLC). He even gives operator instruction classes, so bring your Visa card.

    http://www.amphistar.com/

  5. Re:those things should have much bigger uses by BrianH · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Yeah, TOO quickly. I knew a guy (friend of a friend) who built a small GE "kit craft"in his garage. He destroyed it when he tried to "skip" over some boulders (while flying it in the Utah desert) and jumped from 15 to more than 50 feet. He managed to clear the boulders, but it cost him so much airspeed that he stalled out and hit the ground on the other side. The GECraft was completely destroyed...and he wasn't doing much better himself.

    --

    There is nothing so pathetic as seeing a beautiful young theory roughed up by a tough gang of facts.
  6. Spruce Goose by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Remember the Spruce Goose? It's only a ground effect aircraft. Never was designed with enough power to really climb out of ground effect and the only time it ever flew, it had to stay in ground effect to remain airborne.

    As a pilot who owns my own small airplane, the very idea of ground effect aircraft is a very scary proposition. The possibility of cartwheeling it and turning the vehicle into an expanding collection of loose parts is too real.

    There's a saying in aviation that airspeed equals life, and alititude (above ground level) equals life insurance. I like to think also that airspeed is your sex partner and altitude is your best friend.