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Ground Effect Flying Boat
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."
Sunland ventures in to sea/air transport.
By Mohamed Ali
Sunland Group of Companies is introducing a totally new transport vessel called Flightship to the Maldives at the end of this year. Flightship, as the name denotes, is a combination of a flight and a ship! Flightship is a Singapore/Australian shipbuilder specialising in the design and manufacture of ultra-high speed marine craft.
There are two sizes of these vessels, one with a capacity of six passengers and the other with a capacity of 40 passengers. The Flightship FS8 is a craft that carries 6 passengers and luggage (plus 2 crew) in total safety and quiet comfort, at speeds up to 85 knots. After only a short taxi on the water to build up air pressure under the manta-ray-shaped craft, the FS8 gently lifts itself up to 3.5 metres above the tops of waves and flies away.
At a press briefing organised by Sunland, the members of the media were told that the FS8 is technically known as a Wing in Ground Effect craft (WIG). It is the same principle as hovercraft but the height of a Flightship above waves is much greater and less engine power is needed. The FS8 vessels are very much cheaper and safer to operate than an aircraft and certainly faster and quieter than a hovercraft. Ocean conditions of up to 2-metre waves would not affect the perfectly flat ride of these craft, said Sunland.
Sunland Group's Managing Director, Shabeer Ahmed, said that the Flightships that Sunland is introducing to the Maldives towards the end of this year would have only a six-passenger capacity and therefore would not be viable for wider use. He said that the FS8 model aircraft would be first used to transfer tourists to Sunland's resort islands during the peak season of the year. Shabeer said that only when the company gets the FS40 aircraft, which has a 40-passenger capacity within two to three years, would it be able to use the crafts on a wider scale.
"Since the FS8 model aircraft is something altogether new to Maldives, we are bringing them on a trial basis," Shabeer said. Sunland is getting four of these Flightships, which travel three meters above water. The company will be spending US$ 3.2 million on the acquisition of these four aircraft. Each Flightship costs about US$ 800,000. A Flightship with a capacity of 40-passengers would cost US$ 5 million.
After the trail period, where Sunland would sue the first four Flightships (each with a capacity of only six passengers, to carry tourists to and from Sunland's resorts; the company hopes to invest a further five million dollars to get bigger Flightships with a capacity of 40 passengers. This would enable Sunland to open the Flightships for passengers and tourists from other resorts and even for locals. The potential for Flightships to expand to various corners of the country is immense, both as a mode of transport for tourists and that for locals. In a country with a population fragmented by the seas, Maldives stands to gain a lot if the trials of Sunland's Flightships turn out to be successful. In such a scenario, one would not be surprised if the Flightships of Sunland were to successfully compete with seaplane carriers such as Maldivian Air Taxi and Trans Maldivian Airways. @
>> After the trail period, where Sunland would sue the first four Flightships
Come on.. really, do you expect the Flightships to appear in court?