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... Lack of flexibility compared with alternatives (Flying Boats and Hovercraft) probably played a part too.
Could you make a free-flying transport aircraft that was capable of flying in ground effect to boost range and evade detection? You'd loose the vast load-carrying, but would it still be worthwhile? Does flying in ground effect save more fuel than going quickly at high altitude?
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Could you make a free-flying transport aircraft that was capable of flying in ground effect to boost range and evade detection? You'd loose the vast load-carrying, but would it still be worthwhile? Does flying in ground effect save more fuel than going quickly at high altitude?
See Boeing Pelican concept - claimed ~50% range extension by flying in ground effect
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There must be a pretty hard limit on speed though, with the thick air. Nevermind all the birds it would eat.
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There's no "hard" limit on speed at sea level (well, not until stuff starts melting, and you can put that off until about Mach 3 with the right material choices), but if your wing has enough lift for full payload when out of ground effect, the assumption would be that flying in ground effect would be done at reduced speed. The combination of low speed + long range indicates flying times well in excess of 24h, e.g. the Pelican concept 10000nm range at 240kt cruise in ground effect gives a 41h duration, but with 1200t payload I don't suppose the extra weight of bunks for the relief crew would be a big hindrance.
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It's pretty awesome;
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The immediate problem I can see is the fixed wing will not tolerate freak waves / pitch / troughs like a bird would. I realise scale is relative but a dragged wing is a dead crew.
The concept pictures show extremely low altitude, but useful ground effect starts when the altitude is approximately equal to the wing span, so the Pelican could fly at 500' and still be getting some benefit. Dropping to quarter span, 125', only puts you in the way of the very worst of rogue waves. I would expect a large part of the research on the Pelican project was devoted to dealing with the effect of water waves, since any wave which was a significant proportion of the flying altitude would change the lift, causing a rough ride.
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So the gains become marginal at safe altitude making the technology redundant?
'Zone 3 is between a height of 1 chord length and 10 wing spans and
is dominated by SDGE resulting in a marginal increase in efficiency compared to
OGE flight.' (page 18)(Not to mention stall rate)
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Even marginal gains might be worth having, with gas at $4 a gallon :-)
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Russians invented the 'Amphibious' helicopter also...
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A Russian invented the 'Amphibious' helicopter also..
ftfy
1941 Sikorsky VS-300
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^^ Go home helicopter, you're drunk.
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Humid day in Brum...
Emirates 777 wake vortex spectacular! - YouTube
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Had two Lancaster fly overs in as many days, sailing yesterday a Lanc and a Tornado fly directly over us at about 500 ft. Then today same Lanc takes off and does a low fly by of the beach we were walking the dog at. Spectacular!
My grandad was a rear gunner in a Lancaster love to see them.
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an engine that acts like a normal jet turbine until speeds of Mach 3 are reached but which then operates like a ramjet to accelerate beyond that.
i.e. pretty much as the J58 did nearly 50 years ago :-)
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@GA2G
Sooooo...our Russian friends were playing at Tank Biathlon (!) but they were worried that the dry conditions would spoil the views for the spectators. Drive the course with a road cleaning truck to lay the dust? Hell no:
Ил-76 to the rescue!
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