Future Files:Yet Another Flying Machine That Will Get You Killed
Posted On: 25 October 2007 By: Jay Oatway Filed Under: Flying Car | Jump the Shark | Toys For Geeks
Our dream of flying cars has distracted us from the true holy grail of transportation: flying hovercraft. [via Trendhunter]
It’s not actually a plane, however. According to the local Civil Aviation Authority, the vehicle was not classed as an aircraft because it used an air cushion which relied on the water.
After more than 800 hours of building time, he took it for its first flight just before Christmas last year.
But he refused to let his two daughters watch, just in case something went wrong.
He picked the Haven (the test site) so his friends could accompany him in a "rescue boat", and because it was near the hospital.
That test flight ended in a crash landing, but a single bruise to his leg meant Mr Heeman knew exactly what adjustments he needed to make.
For an explanation of how this works, we turn to Wikipedia:
A Wing In Ground-effect vehicle (WIG), sometimes referred to as a flarecraft, is a vehicle that cruises little more than a few feet over flat surfaces, most often water. It can be seen as a transition between a hovercraft and an aircraft. WIG craft float on a cushion of high-pressure air created by aerodynamic interaction between the wings and the surface, known as ground effect. A WIG differs from an aircraft in that it cannot operate without ground effect, so its operating height is limited relative to its wingspan.
Now imagine scaling this technology for military purposes. This is the folly they came up with in 1987: The Ekranoplan
Perhaps it was just too far ahead of its time.
The future is an invisible cushion.
