Joe Blake
22nd February 2007, 17:45
I don't say this would work in every situation, but it looks fairly interesting.
http://www.gizmag.com.au/go/6864/
Given that it appears that the lift is generated purely by the forward motion, it would seem to be very fuel efficient compared to other "ground effect machines" which have a separate engine to generate lift (eg hovercraft.)
It looks like it's based upon the Ekranoplan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekranoplan
http://autospeed.drive.com.au/cms/article.html?&A=1306&P=1
and this could be useful for heavy lift/high speed work. From reading some of the literature, it needs a large burst of power to reach "flying" speed (hence the multiple jet engines in the canard), but once it achieves lift-off, it only needs a relatively small amount of power to maintain flight, and relies on a small engine in the "tail fin".
I suppose that since there needs to be a consistently flat area to fly on, there wouldn't be much of a market for a land-based 'plan, but I could envisage say a water taxi service in cities with big harbours and rivers. eg Hong Kong, Sydney, New York.
If there were places like 'plan "cab ranks" or bus stops with fixed destinations, they could perhaps have solar (or even wave power) charged "catapults" to launch the 'plans up to flight speed, saving even more fuel.
Joe
http://www.gizmag.com.au/go/6864/
Given that it appears that the lift is generated purely by the forward motion, it would seem to be very fuel efficient compared to other "ground effect machines" which have a separate engine to generate lift (eg hovercraft.)
It looks like it's based upon the Ekranoplan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekranoplan
http://autospeed.drive.com.au/cms/article.html?&A=1306&P=1
and this could be useful for heavy lift/high speed work. From reading some of the literature, it needs a large burst of power to reach "flying" speed (hence the multiple jet engines in the canard), but once it achieves lift-off, it only needs a relatively small amount of power to maintain flight, and relies on a small engine in the "tail fin".
I suppose that since there needs to be a consistently flat area to fly on, there wouldn't be much of a market for a land-based 'plan, but I could envisage say a water taxi service in cities with big harbours and rivers. eg Hong Kong, Sydney, New York.
If there were places like 'plan "cab ranks" or bus stops with fixed destinations, they could perhaps have solar (or even wave power) charged "catapults" to launch the 'plans up to flight speed, saving even more fuel.
Joe