Seaglider vs. Sailboats, etc.

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Seaglider vs. Sailboats, etc.

#1 Post by PHXPhlyer » Wed May 12, 2021 6:38 pm

What could possibly go wrong? :-?

This New All-Electric Seaplane Glides Above the Water Like a Hovercraft
Flying at high speeds on a cushion of air, the Regent seaglider will be a much faster way to commute between cities and coastal communities.

https://robbreport.com/motors/aviation/ ... 234612442/

MOTORS AVIATION
MAY 10, 2021
This New All-Electric Seaplane Glides Above the Water Like a Hovercraft
Flying at high speeds on a cushion of air, the Regent seaglider will be a much faster way to commute between cities and coastal communities.
By DANIEL BACHMANN




The Regent seaglider is a new coastal commuter concept that uses "ground effect," or a cushion of air to ride above the water.Courtesy Regent
Want to get from New York to the Hamptons in record time? How about Boston to Nantucket? This new electric aircraft takes off and lands on water the same way a floatplane does, but flies at 180 mph just above the water’s surface. Designed by two aerospace engineers, the Regent seaglider will serve as a very fast commuter between urban centers and coastal areas.

Regent says the seaglider’s 180-mile range will be at speeds ranging from 145 to 180 mph. After the seaglider lands on the water, it switches to a foiling boat as it taxis to the docks. The innovative design gives the eight-engine craft an edge over other electric and conventional aircraft that are forced to take off from fixed landing areas. It also doesn’t require any special infrastructure, so can use existing docks. The company says it’s also six times faster than a conventional ferry.

“The efficiency of coastal transportation will be a hundred times greater with Regent,” says Mark Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks’ owner who is part of the Founder Fund, a group of companies and investors that led Regent’s latest financing round. “The idea of having to get between two coastal points is always stress inducing. Regent changes all that and makes it fast and easy,” he adds.

The Regent seaglider is a new coastal commuter concept that uses "ground effect," or a cushion of air to ride above the water.
Instead of flying 13,000 feet above the water, the seaglider hovers within a wing’s length over the surface. It is able to travel at 180 mph.
Courtesy Regent
This water-taxi concept transitions between multiple modes. After leaving the dock, it operates at speeds between 20 and 45 mph, running on foils, which keeps the fuselage above the waves for a comfortable ride. Once reaching open water, seaglider takes off and accelerates to between 145 and 180 mph.

Instead of flying high, the seaglider operates like a hovercraft, using “ground effect,” or the cushion of air beneath the wings, to stay within a wingspan of the water’s surface. The company said in a statement that flight safety is accomplished through redundant navigation-and-control systems. Ground effect, according to the company, will give the seaglider twice as much range as a conventional electric aircraft.

Seaglider will require half the operating costs of a traditional aircraft, and with much less noise and zero emissions.

The Regent seaglider is a new coastal commuter concept that uses "ground effect," or a cushion of air to ride above the water.
In boat mode, it runs through the water on foils to create a fast, comfortable ride.
Courtesy Regent
Regent has received $465 million in provisional orders from commercial airlines and ferry companies. Founders Billy Thalheimer and Mike Klinker both studied aerospace engineering at MIT and worked together at Aurora Flight Sciences and Boeing before launching the company. Serving as CEO, Thalheimer has designed different electric aircraft, while CTO Klinker has built and written control software for over a dozen aircraft.

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Re: Seaglider vs. Sailboats, etc.

#2 Post by izod tester » Wed May 12, 2021 7:41 pm

The Russians have had ground effect seaplanes/flying boats for several years.

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Re: Seaglider vs. Sailboats, etc.

#3 Post by PHXPhlyer » Wed May 12, 2021 7:49 pm

izod tester wrote:
Wed May 12, 2021 7:41 pm
The Russians have had ground effect seaplanes/flying boats for several years.
True.
However longer wingspans put the ekranoplans at a higher "altitude" to still be in ground "water" effect possibly eliminating possible interactions with small craft. Plus, their size made it possible to carry some radar equipment. :-??

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Re: Seaglider vs. Sailboats, etc.

#4 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Thu May 13, 2021 2:19 am

PHXPhlyer wrote:
Wed May 12, 2021 7:49 pm
izod tester wrote:
Wed May 12, 2021 7:41 pm
The Russians have had ground effect seaplanes/flying boats for several years.
True.
However longer wingspans put the ekranoplans at a higher "altitude" to still be in ground "water" effect possibly eliminating possible interactions with small craft. Plus, their size made it possible to carry some radar equipment. :-??

PP
The risk of collision between the relatively unmanoeuvrable ekranoplan and small craft was, if fact, high. The Russian Lun class ekranoplan (for example) flew, in ground effect, optimally at +- 13 feet above the water, low enough to affect anything below it adversely. It weighed a lot more than a fully loaded 747 and was moving at speeds of over 300 miles an hour. Even if your craft was low enough in the water to not make contact with behemoth itself, the slipstream, downwash etc. would have been enough to seriously damage your craft, and your vestibular system.

Hell it might have even been low enough to disturb a Texan's hat! ;)))

The proposed Boeing Pelican, would have flown a little higher, in certain stages of flight, but still low enough most of the time to be at risk, and pose a risk to other craft.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Pelican
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Re: Seaglider vs. Sailboats, etc.

#5 Post by PHXPhlyer » Thu May 13, 2021 2:49 am

Somehow knowledge of the Pelican has evaded me until now.
Loading it to max capacity and unloading at the destination would probably take longer than the actual flight.

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Re: Seaglider vs. Sailboats, etc.

#6 Post by bob2s » Thu May 13, 2021 7:02 am

The Airfish from Singapore

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Re: Seaglider vs. Sailboats, etc.

#7 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Fri May 14, 2021 6:37 am

bob2s wrote:
Thu May 13, 2021 7:02 am
The Airfish from Singapore
The Airfish 8 looks like a credible transportation medium in the relatively sheltered areas around marina's, harbours and island coves and inlets. Used as a luxury water taxi between island hotels etc. I can see it being a useful fast utility water vehicle and marketing adjunct to the more traditional boats and small ferries. Good luck to them.

UWV - Utility Water Vehicle (should I copyright the term? Better than ekranoplan which smells of failure)... :)

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Re: Seaglider vs. Sailboats, etc.

#8 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Fri May 14, 2021 6:52 am

A hat tip to the real brains behind these ideas...

Wing In ground effect...

Dr. Alexander Martin Lippisch - Mr Hanno Fischer


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Re: Seaglider vs. Sailboats, etc.

#9 Post by EA01 » Tue May 18, 2021 8:51 am

Many years ago we had a large (ish) hover craft that took people from near Brisbane Airport to the 'Sheraton Mirage' resort down the internal waterways, no need to be in 'open ocean' ... there is a reason it didn't last long....

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Re: Seaglider vs. Sailboats, etc.

#10 Post by G-CPTN » Tue May 18, 2021 11:34 am

EA01 wrote:
Tue May 18, 2021 8:51 am
there is a reason it didn't last long....
And what would that be?

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Re: Seaglider vs. Sailboats, etc.

#11 Post by EA01 » Tue May 18, 2021 1:35 pm

I would suspect, in a part of the World where only the $ matters, the $ was no longer viable....

I don't have an MBE....but business 101 dictates something along the lines of supply and demand....not enough people willing to pay for the experience...ergo....it fails...

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Re: Seaglider vs. Sailboats, etc.

#12 Post by EA01 » Tue May 18, 2021 1:39 pm

Or a downturn in the economy means it is not viable for long enough to last until people want it again....or a coach (Bus) is going to be many many times cheaper than a hovercraft....they were here.....and now they are not....simply economically they never made sense...

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Re: Seaglider vs. Sailboats, etc.

#13 Post by G-CPTN » Tue May 18, 2021 1:52 pm

EA01 wrote:
Tue May 18, 2021 1:39 pm
simply economically they never made sense...
Like non-fixed crossings of the Firth of Forth and the Clyde?


Before the bridges. the Queensferry was the only means of avoiding a long road journey, but daily amphibian or hovercraft trips haven't 'taken off''.

The story of Scotland's hovercrafts and why they failed.

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Re: Seaglider vs. Sailboats, etc.

#14 Post by EA01 » Tue May 18, 2021 1:57 pm

Oh...Ok...I don't know then....they were here for a very short period of time and then 30 odd years ago they disappeared....I assumed if they were viable they would still be here....

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Re: Seaglider vs. Sailboats, etc.

#15 Post by G-CPTN » Tue May 18, 2021 2:06 pm

Christopher Skase ran two large, four- engine, 40-seater hovercraft on shuttle runs between Brisbane Airport and the Gold Coast Spit between 1988 and 1992.

By 1989, interest rates had risen, and Skase was forced to sell half of his resorts to Japanese investors.
In the months that followed, it became clear that Skase had overextended themselves.

Skase was more than $700 million in debt.
He promptly fled the country.

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