Flying Ship

[farrusquito]

It is a Ekranoplan Taxi ....good to see again a Ekranoplan in action

[farrusquito]

It is a Ekranoplan Taxi ....good to see again a Ekranoplan in action

[CallMeNoname]

This is inferior to the old ass sea planes. The sea planes had wheels on the bottom of the floaty things so it could land on both water and land.

Geez, way to take a step back in technology.

[mutantroosta]

is there any reason why these dont actually fly like a normal plane? i cant see any real reason why not

[acharad]

These "boats" are designed to fly just a few meters above the water ground. While cruising above the ground, condensed and accelerated airflow between the bottom of wings and water ground, creates a lower air drag to drive the ship more efficiently. The engines are selected to run on low drag, too.

It's easy to make them fly like a plane just by extending wings.

But this increases drag,lowers efficiency, even could stall the engines when takeoff or break the loose of ground effect.

[sdrfgvrfgvsfravgdsvS]

;P

LOL

[sdrfgvrfgvsfravgdsvS]

sailing plane

[talspacewigcraft]

yes... it is a sailing plance to be exact.

[yardbird2000]

What do weather conditions have to be for it to fly ? Im not sure about ground effects with waves over 1ft !

[talspacewigcraft]

take-off below 1.5meter

cruise within 2.5~3 meter wave.

yes, it won't be fully optimised in higher wave, yet still contributes.

[pingfaninsg]

What is the specification and the price?

[casmelia]

Its interesting but I'm not convinced of the commercial viablity of this. I'm not seeing the utility value one can have from this other than a toy that will ultimately be more regulated by local governments than boats and less useful than a seaplane.

[MisterBaz1]

They can travel faster and carry a heavier payload(for its size) than a boat. The fastest way from A to B is a straight line right? Can you do that on roads with traffic and stop signs?

On the water, you just point and shoot. This is great when you are surrounded by many (and/or major) ports that need goods and people transported. This particular GEV is designed to only carry a few people.

Other large scale commercial models can carry a LOT more.

[BrutalDeluxe80]

how about fitting the props horizontally inside the wings with simple flaps for thrust vectoring?

[MokomaSusi]

I think Ekranoplans might have bright future ahead.

[efesair]

talspace, why do you not reply to my inquiry?

[talspacewigcraft]

I've already sent the specifications of our craft and response to your inquiry. Let me resend the message again. Thank you for letting us know.

[102trafalgar]

Fascinating. Will The Boeing Pelican ever become a reality? It looks awesome. Thanks for sharing.

[talspacewigcraft]

Thanks for the comment.

Eventually... this will become that big, but in the short timeframe.

Maybe 20 passenger class in 4~5 years and 50 passenger class in 7~8 years?

[102trafalgar]

So lovely you replied to me. At 65 I've seen such enormous changes in the aironautical industry and it continues. Hopefully I'll live to see all of your developments become reality? Wish you all the very best, and thanks again for sharing.

An elderly aironautical enthusiast!

[talspacewigcraft]

it shall be... i do appreciate your thoughts and if i were next to you, i would be the one to chat with you... ^^ thank you very much.

[100MPG]

great but suggest you look into diesel power like on Diamond DA42 for even better efficiency!

[talspacewigcraft]

thanks for the input... will look into it.

[toranamunter]

are these commercially available? do you have a website?

[talspacewigcraft]

yes, it is commercially available. but the information is not publically available at the moment. if there is any inquiry to make, please do so with the email address at the end video clip. thank you for your interest.

FYI, there is 8-seaters available at the moment with 150km/h cruising speed(170km/h max), take-off at the wave height of 1.5m, operate under 12m/sec wind speed, consumes 40liter/hour gasoline and 500km range. hope this could be of assistance.

[Mistraker]

Cool bird. I love the giant Russian Ekranoplans, too. Some of those were monstrous, and amazing looking ships/planes. Seeing them slide by a few feet above the water is just ghostly strange.

[talspacewigcraft]

Indeed... those of Russians are quite innovative, yet there are some limitations on its application to real market due to low take-off wave height which results in low operating ratio and regions where it can run.

[oneredball]

These ground effect machines are awesome! I would hate to clipa wing into a wave though, splat.

[teto85]

Very cool.  These would be perfect in Puget Sound & San Juan Islands.

[talspacewigcraft]

Really? Let me know if there is anybody who would like to know more about this craft and its application in a designated region. ^^ Cheers!

[chrisfunk2000]

Yeah, I knew that somebody would say that!!! haha.

It's cool and everything,,,but how many people can it carry vs how much fuel it uses. Is it better than say a small boat of light aircraft in that sense?

[talspacewigcraft]

8 people including a pilot.

normally 43litre/hour in out of ground mode and 34 litre/hour in-ground mode with the cruising speed of 150km/h (max 170km/hour)

[chrisfunk2000]

very cool, but it's hardly a flying ship,,,more of a sea going plane!

[talspacewigcraft]

indeed. however, it's been classified as a ship by IMO(International Maritime Organization) & ICAO(International Civil Aviation Organization), so we call it as "WIG Craft, the flying ship."

Thanks for your comment

[mtfine]

Awesome - we need more work with WIG machines.

[talspacewigcraft]

thanks... are you also in this work?

[mtfine]

No - just very interseted. I'm a private pilot/boater who lives on an island near Seattle, WA. Would be a great way to get to work.

[talspacewigcraft]

There was some discussion on putting these crafts for British Columbia before 2010 Winter Olympic Games as water transit... possibly for applicable in Seattle as well... ^^