I've been screaming about Electric Ekranoplans for years! they would allow current battery technology to enable medium range, high speed transport - right now! I'm so glad the concept has finally become popular
@@markmiller6844 - exactly! yes they're tricky and yes they're not suitable for all routes - but the efficiency gains and still relatively high speeds? given modern computer control and weather radar? they're an excellent choice! the bigger you make them? the higher and more stable they can glide.
@@alextaylor9746 - Yes! the point is? that they are a totally proven technology - the numbers work in our favour - and all we have to do is design a really nice one
Hey Johnny, I have been hoping to get my mitts on one of the old Russian Ekranoplans that are sitting disused, but ready to be updated. I am letting my dream go, simply because now it is evident that newer designs are around, that incorporate electric motors and foil technology. I have failed in my bid to compete with the local ferry system, but I am hopeful there will be a groundswell of support from enthusiasts like you... and others that see great vids such as this! Watch out sailboats... here we come.
Ive been fascinated with WIGs for over 25 years, and even built an RC model in the 90s. Nice job on this video and its great to know this technology is being looked at again. Also, if you didnt mention it, in addition to the the electric tech improvements, composite materials and fly by wire computers were not as common during the soviet craft. So now possibly WIG tech will come of age.
This is exactly what we would need here in Thailand! We would have direct routes between Hua-Hin and Pattaya or between Cha-Am and Bang Saen, just to name a few relevant examples among many!
I'm am avid W.I.G. enthusiast and been experimenting with a few models. This aircraft although not a WIG displays the ideal characteristics for a safe Wing In Ground effect vehicle. Notice from 2:15 in this video, ua-cam.com/video/i71YQO81uc0/v-deo.html , it reacts to the waves like bumps but does "Not Change Her Longitudinal Attitude"! It is not designed as a WIG so its operator/designer is probably not influenced by "Expectational Bias" in his observations. Also it isnot a waterborne aircraft and cannot afford to hit the water but its operator seems to be fully confident that it will not. As seen it seems to have little to no shift in center of pressure when transitioning in and out of Ground Effect(GE). Maybe an aerodynamicist can explain why the Close Coupled Delta Canard displays this characteristic.
Thanks for this video. It makes me wonder whether a craft with folding or partly retracting wings could take off from land and then still het full advantage by retracting or reconfiguring its wings as it cruised over water in ground effect.
Electric Aviation mentioned three main design types of WIG: Ekranoplan, reverse delta and tandem wing but didn't mention the Mitsubishi KAG-type ram wing, the Bixel double delta or the Universal Hovercraft hovercraft/WIG hybrid. The latter is the only kit and plan set one can purchase today with a number being operated in the U.S. and at least one in Australia. In addition, WIG craft are classified by IMO as either type A, B or C with type C considered aircraft subject to regulation by aviation authorities when flying out of ground effect.
@@oldmech619 Point well made, I expect that a lateral maneuver would allow for such an event but can easily imagine where the rough seas would cancel flights.
thank you, I learned quite a bit. 1. The Ekronplane concept is a very viable design for high speed transport over bodies of water. 2. Electro-propultion and battery storage tech seriously limits to range and payloads and fossil fuels are still the preferred tech for long range operations.
See the Chase / Stroukoff YC-134E from the mid '50s. Upgraded C-123 with boundary layer control for STOL and sealed strengthened fuselage & a pair of "pantobase" flat skis. It operated from unimproved ground, water, snow/ice, sand, swamp.
I don't like reliance on underwater propulsion and control. It's bad enough being paranoid about subsurface logs at higher speeds, but even taxiing among floating debris. A GEV even at walking speed loves snow, can push through mud or sand onto land, or turn around & fly up into GE.
Excellent video. Don't these require a lot of power to get themselves out of the water? I seem to remember the Loon had all those jet engines for getting going and could turn off most of them when in cruise mode. I guess the hydrofoil idea is a good way to get around it. I've seen 3hp hydrofoils, so it seems like a good solution. I wonder if these WIGs offer any great advantage to hydrofoils though? Both seem to suffer with rough weather. Maybe you could do a sister channel - Electric Watercraft?
Fyi. Indonesia , malaysia and sungapore have 2 ttpe ocean. Inter ocean which is actually dozen straits (malaca strait, karimata strait and sunda strait) and open ocean (pasific, south china/natuna ocean and indian ocean. Inter ocean are calm ocean. Rhestrait actually ancient river when indonesua , malaysia and aingapore still one continent call sundaland. After great flood occur..they separated into dozen islands , singapore ,sumatra , natuna, java, borneo etc. And ancient river karimata become strait sunda,karimata malaca ,and java. The strait is so huge so sometimes people call it ocean. This ocean are calm.
If there is a wave the craft with some clever modern computer tech can mimic the surface of the water swells or just fly that little bit higher for a while.
A fly-by-wire mustache wing with a positive lift can be used for stability so there's no penalty for that. When I've worked on the S.A.E. solar boat project we've brainstormed about using the batteries as a keel weight in the hydrofoil to lower down the C.G. of the boat and reduce the need of a less efficient v-shaped hydrofoil. I think the optimal solution is close to one using hydrofoils and a tunnel hull.
Good vid, but I cannot see large WIGs being practical. A small inflatable electric water toy would be cool though. The bigger, faster and further you want to go, the more straight up flight works. Making a good boat is hard enough, making it tough enough to handle wave impact, climb through all the drag regimes, lift regimes, and maintaining it in stable flight just has too many compromises. It can work, but the suitable waterways are rare, and the first big storm will probably trash it.
The bigger the craft gets the more efficient it gets because it traps a larger volume of air underneath. Honestly a huge cargo plane might be the best use case
@@nathanchildress5596 True. That's the way the Russians went for good reason. One rouge wave or bad storm can still take them out though, and you really need good radar and planning at speed because they turn like dogs dt limited roll.
It will be interesting to see what the Canadians and Australians can do with such an interesting aircraft! I think this technology is not only for military service good!
Excellent video, presented in a clear an concise manner, and full of relevant information. I'll be watching more of your videos. Now if they can find an economic/practical way to extract Hydrogen from sea water onboard, they will essentially have an inexhaustible and readily available source of fuel. Thanks
Hi, nice video, just one comment: the bigger the ekranoplan, the higher the payload, therefore, it will be easier to use batteries on bigger planes. I am just dreaming of a huge ekranoplan with Ambri liquid metal batteries. Also, with bigger size there is an increase of ground clearance and thus capability to fly in rough seas. As much as I admire the Wigetworks design, they must quickly build something way bigger. Size is the best ekranoplan's friend.
Hello Electric Aircraft. Thank you for your show. Very interesting and prominently spoken thesis. Bravo. I REALLY like the future in ground effect electric. Propulsion. If I knew how to build the future of electric propulsion ...would you ? I know how and have been working on the idea for fifty six years. I was a protege of Robert Oppenheimer in 1964 in Charleston, South Carolina and his associate Stephen Hawkins.
I'm quite dubious about this particular method of transportation. It requires you to have harbor installations, with maritime AND aviation technology. Unless you operate from extremely remote areas or spaces where it is much more difficult to build nearby airfileds compared to landing on water, it feels to me like flying just makes more sense in the majority of cases, even between short distances like the English Channel. I guess we'll see ! Interesting approach to ferrying passengers.
It seems like what this enables is a longer range for electric planes? So the benefit is high speed and zero emissions, but over actual practical distances. Probably best for the English Channel and other straits.
Great video with lots of good data and examples . Is there any research that you know of where a gyro plane possible with wings is in development for a W.I.G. craft or is the use of a gyro rotor not efficient enough ??
Well, as long as the weather and surface conditions are favorable. The short wings mean you have to stay close to the surface. So as long as the seas are fairly smooth this is fine. Anything over 2', maybe 3' seas and these become very risky. So, a fairweather solution at best with low weight limits for cargo (which includes people).
Electric ekranoplanes sounds really smart, but why are they not aiming for autonomous drive, or at least single pilot config? Should be the perfect thing for autonomous drive!
That would be a disaster, think about the liability if the craft steered into a billion dollar cargo ship! With all the problems autonomous cars are having no one would risk that.
@@nathanchildress5596 Autonomous driving of a car is way more complicated than autonomous flight. Autonomous flight has been around for a long time in airliners, although pilots still are onboard and monitoring for added security and redundancy. Several electric aviation players are targeting autonomous flight, such as Lilium Jet. I dont see a reason why ground effect crafts would pose a bigger challenge. Quite the opposite.
@@MattiasAllring Yes that's true. The difference is that those planes are at several thousand feet, as opposed to ekranoplans which fly within a hundred or so feet of the earth's surface with lots of hazards in their flight path. Now say your company is tasked with programming this autonomous flight system, would you be willing to accept liability for a damaged container ship or oil tanker?
Soviets stopped the ground effect aircraft project because it has a huge amount of disadvantages. It can be used on absolutely flat water only. Even tiny waves mean strong vibration and waves higher than 1-2 feet mean you can't use this vehicle. During tests, vibration was so strong so they lost their tail. Every small boat is a big problem because roll very limited to turn. And many more problems. You can build a prototype but it impossible for real commercial use.
Modern aerodynamic stability control systems can pretty much totally mitigate the issue with vibration, and they can be ruddered to turn more like a car than roll like a plane.
It is making too many assumptions to insist that since a prototype had limitations, the concept is worthless. Aleksyev counters each of your points, Lippisch can fly. Sea state is always brought up and always overstated.
Note about the Seaglider: I'd really like to understand the rationale for the high-mounted wing and its aspect ratio. It goes against all what I know about WIGs.
As the propuslors are on the wing, they wanted to make use of distributed propulsion. You are right, because of the high wings, the ground effect will diminish
A few interesting facts: Wig craft become safer (higher altitude) and more efficient at larger sizes. There have already been solar powered aircraft (Helios, Solar Impulse HB-SIA, Zephyr S HAPS) and I have seen RC solar powered hovercrafts. What if you combined these ideas. I visualize a huge rectangular WIG craft with the top covered in solar cells.
Such an exciting technology that’s not being looked at nearly enough. When Boeing came out with their Pelican ground effect cargo concept I thought “that’s the future!” But no one has taken the next step. Forget self driving cars, we need to focus on this!!
Great toys for fair weather and calm seas, but both these things can change in an instant and this aircraft has no means of avoiding disaster. If it's only potential is for short distances then it won't be cost effective.
small float on the sea and line up to non powered glider plane that moves up like a kite and backwards cos float moves but has some resistance too from the water...could work
This development is great but commercially its not yet successful on a large scale or perhaps not yet in the near future. After many research on the matter, it was disclosed that too many aspects are to be aware of such as collisions on sea and some other low flying object or debris strikes in open seas. Not also feasible operating at night. I do like the idea of the combination hydrofoil-wing-in-ground vehicle and the possible use of hydrogen as fuel, if said battery versions are still subpar in performance, due to weight considerations, limited range and turnaround battery charging. Unless there are dedicated sea lanes for vehicles such as these or for remote shuttle transfer usage between some exclusive luxury resorts, I imagine this would be probably popular only for the smaller market or for recreational use.
why not over land? The Russians developed the tiny ESKA 1 of 992 lbs, which was a vehicle for flying along rivers, and over frozen tundra in Siberia. In Australia theyve been talking of VFT very fast train, but distances make the cost prohibitive, as even ordinary track costs A$1m per km A GEV would only require a managed glide way over land to connect places like Adelaide in the south, to Alice Springs in the centre, and Darwin on the north coast at 120-200mph This is a transit of some 1,800 miles, and where the glideway would have less environmental impact than rails, and would fly over common fauna like kangaroo and shrubs.
Wouldn't larger WIG's be easier to power electrically, not harder? The big advantage is that more mass can be carried per wing area, so doesn't it follow that batteries could make up a higher percentage of the total mass?
The larger the aircraft weight the more batteries required to make it take off meaning the more maximum take off weight. If I plot a curve of MTOW with increasing battery size than it would be a curve that rises and than falls. I will be explaining this is my next video
Fuel cell systems has very low power density, that is one of the reasons why even fuel cell cars are hybrids, and "fuel cell" trains and airplanes are essentially battery powered, and the fuel cell systems on them are best described as very complicated, expensive and inefficient way to charge the batteries. Energy density of batteries does not limit aviation to some specific absolute capacity in number of passengers or weight, you can scale up the whole aircraft. Limited energy density limits the amount of energy, simply put in practical terms: the possible range. You can scale up a plane and use large part of it's capacity to batteries, and that way get long range, but in doing so sacrificing some of the useful capacity for the size of the plane. Wing in ground effect vehicles benefits from being large, essentially they get more efficient, all else equal, the bigger they get. Just increase the size of the vehicle, including capacity of the battery system until they can carry the amount of payload that you want. Fuel cells doesn't improve power density, they add a lot of weight, for it's power output. Fuel cell systems add weight, costs, energy losses, and danger. That's why a few thousand fuel cells cars are produced per year, globally, while there are millions of electric cars produced. And that is despite the fact that the fuel cell was invented well before the first rechargeable battery was invented. The potential benefits from using hydrogen as a fuel, over batteries is the possibility to achieve more range with less mass added, and the theoretically faster refueling compared to charging. But, unless you use liquid hydrogen, you don't save much weight because the tanks you need weighs so much. And fast refueling of more than moderate amounts is very complicated, and expensive. If you use liquid hydrogen you need to keep it cool, as it boils at 20.271 K (−252.879 °C, −423.182 °F) to use that as fuel in practical applications you need commercial rocket-territory money.
Passenger capacity is the largest disadvantage compared to hydrofoil ferries. This tech is currently suitable only to the rich who can pay the higher ticket prices that would necessarily happen with these vessels. Still cool tech, though.
Ok, this message is adressed to Widgetwork directly. As owner of Tandem Airfoil Flairboat Technology, I have to tell you that there are a lot of mistakes within your report. 1st. The Airfish 8 is based on Delta Wing Design of Dr. Alexander Lippisch. Liparische Design is NOT ownstable, there is need of electronical stabilisation, otherwise the Design is not practicable. 2nd. Tandem Airfoil Flairboat is the only worldwide unique ownstable system, determiniert by shape and the communicating interwing - system.
Cool ideas for sure but the inability to handle rough seas is a deal breaker in my opinion. All the artist's conceptions in this video show ideal conditions. It's hard to believe any place would be like that most of the time.
The makers and other serious studies say that the layman's gut feeling leads to false assumptions. Alekseyev and other qualified observers say the usual assumptions are wrong about many points, to say the entire concept even beyond a few prototypes is worthless.
Any weather that stops GEVs and seaplanes, also stops all other aviation, small watercraft, and most larger watercraft have to either curtail or lose making useful way or any other operations.
Electric WIGE aircraft might offer a solution to Tesla for transport of people and supplies quickly from shore to it's 20 miles offshore Starship launch platforms. The new 4680 Tesla batteries would be perfect because of their lighter weight and higher energy density.
You can't compare a Otter to this plane. The Otter is a legend that has been everywhere because it can go everywhere. It fly's when the weather says stay at home. If you want to compare engines to this new trailer queen choose something else. Whatever this new thing wants to be called see if in 50 years legend is part of it's vernacular.
Chill dude, he’s saying it’s more efficient, that’s it.We all know the Otter is one of the greatest planes ever, and it does a completely different job. So just scrape the salt off your hull and chill out
As a watercraft, the strengthened hull isn't a disadvantage, it's business as usual. For aircraft, it's also an advantage, in that it doesn't fragment and churn the passengers into a fireball if it comes down on anything less perfect than a runway. Chose which is an advantage. Most aerospace industry would rather carry more passengers than assure the safety of what they carry. Since this is a watercraft, it's not a choice. Martin P6M Seamaster had hull >25mm thick in front & underside. Weather is always brought against them. Any weather with winds 35+ kts and waves 3+ meters stops all aircraft, small boats, and larger watercraft are severely hindered or effectively stopped. Alexyev as well as the Lippisch designs, and Boeing & Lock-Mart say their larger craft are good in sea states that are worse. As do Beriev and Shin-Maywah, for contemporary seaplane makers. It's worth noting that Beriev bought back from the Navy, a few Be-12 seaplanes, to be worked into the "-200" variant to test & train with the water handling fire bombing tanker system to be built into the Be-200. After 20+ years in navy service, they had little to no corrosion damage.
As cool as the use of that effect is, unfortunately it's very impractical in most circumstances. For a few islands in very flat sea this may be practical. But even for general coastal travel it's not very reliable. With a wingspan of 40 meters a wave amplitude of 1 meter would basically make it impossible to travel. Ferrys are very reliable to hold their schedule. With a WIG you'd be highly depending on the weather, which makes it very unattractive for commercial use...
while there is truth to this, commercial craft are envisaged to be larger than those suitable for private operation In this way the civil version Cessna size 6 seater suitable for coastal operation doesnt require a pilots license, it is registered as a motor boat because it is surface traffic. The bigger the craft the more sea able it is, and the ride height all the greater Craft suitable for ferries would be much larger to be able to maintain their schedules on par with helicopters and sea ferries
@@stevemickler452 5% of wingspan was the number I've gotten from the video. That means 2 meters for 40 meters wingspan which is an amplitude of 1 meter
@@stevemickler452 he got his wires crossed I think. The ekranoplan types like Caspian Sea Monster and Orlyonok have the worst height performance in ground effect, more usually half the wingspan is the height they will achieve but at some loss of efficient performance. They can use inertia to jump over higher obstacles, but you wouldnt want to stall the thing.
WIG is a cute technology that fails in real world use - it requires a very low sea state or the air cushion breaks up and the plane falls onto the water.
As always russians were ahead of us by decades and only now are we catching up lol. Not all ekranoplanes they designed were for military contrary to popular belief, they also made some unbelievably amazing boats that would glide above water purely for a fast, comfortable civilian transport (I'm forgetting the name of the bloody technology right now).
This technology will probably debut to the general public when hundreds of them fly at wavetop into South Bessarabia and Odessa and Mykolaiv coast. We will need a Command and Conquer 3 video for that. Seriously in military applications safety is measured differently, the speed and radar invisibility and annoying in between ness that makes them hard for anti ship or anti air to hit... All makes up for their vulnerability to rogue waves or obstacles. A large number of small ones would be an ideal way to invade amphibiously. Just wait for a calm day.
The people who like boats, why are they not interested in this? If they could be made as comfortable as a yacht, would their be any problem selling them? (and do put solar panels on the wings)
It is incorrect to state that WIG's takeoff requires less power - until airborne - it is a boat that must overcome hump drug to start hydroplaning first - and then get to takeoff speed. Did you see those packs of start assist engines on the Russian ekranoplans, didn't you? Also, WIGs have severe stability problems - that's why we haven't seen many of them in use. These vehicles are a dead end.
That's the reason why we need the ground based commercial transport and more importantly Aviation and Cruise industry to switch to Hydrogen based fuel cell ( for its much higher energy density) instead of electric. Electric is only good for passenger cars and 2-wheelers.
But a Dolphin strike is surely more catastrophic than a bird strike.
Hahahaha...Good one
Dolphins would strike, they're well know socialists. The ultra hardworking capitalist sharks on the other hand, never stop swimming!
@@LeonRamkumar .. haaaaaaaaaa. u funy
What altitude does your plane cruise at?
only for the dolphin. the craft will survive.
I've been screaming about Electric Ekranoplans for years! they would allow current battery technology to enable medium range, high speed transport - right now! I'm so glad the concept has finally become popular
Me too. More often than not people will respond as if it is crazy talk before even attempting to understand it.
@@markmiller6844 - exactly! yes they're tricky and yes they're not suitable for all routes - but the efficiency gains and still relatively high speeds? given modern computer control and weather radar? they're an excellent choice! the bigger you make them? the higher and more stable they can glide.
@@JohnnyWednesday apparently they are more efficient then ships, so trans-pacific container ekranoplans... Could even cross the desert maybe.
@@alextaylor9746 - Yes! the point is? that they are a totally proven technology - the numbers work in our favour - and all we have to do is design a really nice one
Hey Johnny, I have been hoping to get my mitts on one of the old Russian Ekranoplans that are sitting disused, but ready to be updated. I am letting my dream go, simply because now it is evident that newer designs are around, that incorporate electric motors and foil technology. I have failed in my bid to compete with the local ferry system, but I am hopeful there will be a groundswell of support from enthusiasts like you... and others that see great vids such as this! Watch out sailboats... here we come.
Every video is a new masterpiece!
Well done video, very encapsulating of the problems and benefits and you explain some of the aero no one else mentions.
Many thanks!
Excellent video. I did a school project on these 10 years ago and I'm excited to see how far they've come!
I thoroughly enjoy your informative videos as well as your commentaries.
Glad to hear it!
So glad to find your channel, the field is just getting started, so much history to come.
Welcome aboard!
Ive been fascinated with WIGs for over 25 years, and even built an RC model in the 90s. Nice job on this video and its great to know this technology is being looked at again. Also, if you didnt mention it, in addition to the the electric tech improvements, composite materials and fly by wire computers were not as common during the soviet craft. So now possibly WIG tech will come of age.
Your channel is honestly the best aviation channel. Watch every video twice when it comes out. Amazing work.
Wow, thanks!
Wow, so informative. Thank you very much!
Glad it was helpful!
And thank you for making this great video
My pleasure!
This is exactly what we would need here in Thailand!
We would have direct routes between Hua-Hin and Pattaya or between Cha-Am and Bang Saen, just to name a few relevant examples among many!
I'm am avid W.I.G. enthusiast and been experimenting with a few models. This aircraft although not a WIG displays the ideal characteristics for a safe Wing In Ground effect vehicle. Notice from 2:15 in this video, ua-cam.com/video/i71YQO81uc0/v-deo.html , it reacts to the waves like bumps but does "Not Change Her Longitudinal Attitude"! It is not designed as a WIG so its operator/designer is probably not influenced by "Expectational Bias" in his observations. Also it isnot a waterborne aircraft and cannot afford to hit the water but its operator seems to be fully confident that it will not.
As seen it seems to have little to no shift in center of pressure when transitioning in and out of Ground Effect(GE).
Maybe an aerodynamicist can explain why the Close Coupled Delta Canard displays this characteristic.
Thanks for this video. It makes me wonder whether a craft with folding or partly retracting wings could take off from land and then still het full advantage by retracting or reconfiguring its wings as it cruised over water in ground effect.
Very informative, I enjoyed your narration and was disappointed the video ended. Must point out-you wrapped it up 🎯. Thank you.
Wow, thank you!
Always been fond of Ekranoplans - it'd be great to see them find a useful application - quality video as ever, ^oo^
Thanks again!
The more I watched, the more I liked the video. Nice work man, keep it up 👍
Great video, keep going!
How well do these work on rough water?
Thank you, really enjoyed this video!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great vid.
Love your content keep it coming, all hail the algorithm
Electric Aviation mentioned three main design types of WIG: Ekranoplan, reverse delta and tandem wing but didn't mention the Mitsubishi KAG-type ram wing, the Bixel double delta or the Universal Hovercraft hovercraft/WIG hybrid. The latter is the only kit and plan set one can purchase today with a number being operated in the U.S. and at least one in Australia.
In addition, WIG craft are classified by IMO as either type A, B or C with type C considered aircraft subject to regulation by aviation authorities when flying out of ground effect.
Thank you for adding to our knowledge
The Seaglider design seems to offer the most potential as it has a higher wave clearance and hydrofoils to reduce water drag.
Steady state waves is one thing, it just takes one real big wave to take you down hard.
@@oldmech619 Point well made, I expect that a lateral maneuver would allow for such an event but can easily imagine where the rough seas would cancel flights.
Informative. Useful. Plenty for Regulators to think about. Great possibilities here for island nations (e.g NZ)
Excellent video.
Glad you liked it!
thank you, I learned quite a bit. 1. The Ekronplane concept is a very viable design for high speed transport over bodies of water. 2. Electro-propultion and battery storage tech seriously limits to range and payloads and fossil fuels are still the preferred tech for long range operations.
8:50 What Cruise Ship was that!? 😬😳🧐
I'm convinced a hybrid hydrofoil ground and winged effect vehicle is the best solution.
Particularly if you use the water as your reaction mass.
The Russians used the 'hydroski' to assist in take offs and flight in very marginal conditions
See the Chase / Stroukoff YC-134E from the mid '50s.
Upgraded C-123 with boundary layer control for STOL and sealed strengthened fuselage & a pair of "pantobase" flat skis.
It operated from unimproved ground, water, snow/ice, sand, swamp.
I don't like reliance on underwater propulsion and control.
It's bad enough being paranoid about subsurface logs at higher speeds, but even taxiing among floating debris.
A GEV even at walking speed loves snow, can push through mud or sand onto land, or turn around & fly up into GE.
Wiggidy Wigginton algorithms wig. Nice work sir.
Awesome
Excellent video. Don't these require a lot of power to get themselves out of the water? I seem to remember the Loon had all those jet engines for getting going and could turn off most of them when in cruise mode. I guess the hydrofoil idea is a good way to get around it. I've seen 3hp hydrofoils, so it seems like a good solution. I wonder if these WIGs offer any great advantage to hydrofoils though? Both seem to suffer with rough weather. Maybe you could do a sister channel - Electric Watercraft?
The Singapore based aircraft look really cool and practical. But I guess they can only be used when the sea is calm.
Fyi.
Indonesia , malaysia and sungapore have 2 ttpe ocean.
Inter ocean which is actually dozen straits (malaca strait, karimata strait and sunda strait) and open ocean (pasific, south china/natuna ocean and indian ocean.
Inter ocean are calm ocean.
Rhestrait actually ancient river when indonesua , malaysia and aingapore still one continent call sundaland.
After great flood occur..they separated into dozen islands , singapore ,sumatra , natuna, java, borneo etc.
And ancient river karimata become strait sunda,karimata malaca ,and java. The strait is so huge so sometimes people call it ocean.
This ocean are calm.
If there is a wave the craft with some clever modern computer tech can mimic the surface of the water swells or just fly that little bit higher for a while.
Well done.
This is the future 👍
Love it! 😀
I'm glad!
How would it perform in stormy weather?
Probably the largest issue is waves. Small ekranoplans can't even fly in choppy seas, and larger ones still have issues
A fly-by-wire mustache wing with a positive lift can be used for stability so there's no penalty for that.
When I've worked on the S.A.E. solar boat project we've brainstormed about using the batteries as a keel weight in the hydrofoil to lower down the C.G. of the boat and reduce the need of a less efficient v-shaped hydrofoil. I think the optimal solution is close to one using hydrofoils and a tunnel hull.
Nice video!
Glad you enjoyed it
I always wanted a combo ekranoplan/fishing boat for the local lake.
Good vid, but I cannot see large WIGs being practical. A small inflatable electric water toy would be cool though. The bigger, faster and further you want to go, the more straight up flight works. Making a good boat is hard enough, making it tough enough to handle wave impact, climb through all the drag regimes, lift regimes, and maintaining it in stable flight just has too many compromises. It can work, but the suitable waterways are rare, and the first big storm will probably trash it.
The bigger the craft gets the more efficient it gets because it traps a larger volume of air underneath. Honestly a huge cargo plane might be the best use case
@@nathanchildress5596 True. That's the way the Russians went for good reason. One rouge wave or bad storm can still take them out though, and you really need good radar and planning at speed because they turn like dogs dt limited roll.
It will be interesting to see what the Canadians and Australians can do with such an interesting aircraft! I think this technology is not only for military service good!
How does the noise rate for fish, whales, etc? Thinkng of areas that have restrictions on existing high speed transposrts.
Excellent video, presented in a clear an concise manner, and full of relevant information. I'll be watching more of your videos. Now if they can find an economic/practical way to extract Hydrogen from sea water onboard, they will essentially have an inexhaustible and readily available source of fuel. Thanks
What about in bad weather? Or high seas? Can it cope in those conditions?
Nope
Hi, nice video, just one comment: the bigger the ekranoplan, the higher the payload, therefore, it will be easier to use batteries on bigger planes. I am just dreaming of a huge ekranoplan with Ambri liquid metal batteries. Also, with bigger size there is an increase of ground clearance and thus capability to fly in rough seas. As much as I admire the Wigetworks design, they must quickly build something way bigger. Size is the best ekranoplan's friend.
Imagine a huge flying ground effect - aircraft carrier.
I hope these will become more common.
Thank you for sharing. super cool projects.
Okay. As one of the owners of Jörg BK 15397 I would like to correct the following: The envelope of the Tandem Airfoil Flairboat is of the same weight
of a comparable airplane. It must, because it is flying at the strong ground effect level, which means 5% of wing size.
Hello Electric Aircraft. Thank you for your show. Very interesting and prominently spoken thesis. Bravo. I REALLY like the future in ground effect electric. Propulsion. If I knew how to build the future of electric propulsion ...would you ? I know how and have been working on the idea for fifty six years. I was a protege of Robert Oppenheimer in 1964 in Charleston, South Carolina and his associate Stephen Hawkins.
You are welcome! If you would like to share your ideas, I would be keen to have a look at them.
Video suggestion: variable wingspan aircraft! (Expect to see fs29 glider in that video ;-))
I'm quite dubious about this particular method of transportation. It requires you to have harbor installations, with maritime AND aviation technology.
Unless you operate from extremely remote areas or spaces where it is much more difficult to build nearby airfileds compared to landing on water, it feels to me like flying just makes more sense in the majority of cases, even between short distances like the English Channel.
I guess we'll see ! Interesting approach to ferrying passengers.
This is for a niche in utility and cost, between a ferry and flying.
It seems like what this enables is a longer range for electric planes? So the benefit is high speed and zero emissions, but over actual practical distances.
Probably best for the English Channel and other straits.
Great video with lots of good data and examples . Is there any research that you know of where a gyro plane possible with wings is in development for a W.I.G. craft or is the use of a gyro rotor not efficient enough ??
Thank you. I am not aware of any WIG gyro plane. Gyros are by design very efficient
Well, as long as the weather and surface conditions are favorable. The short wings mean you have to stay close to the surface. So as long as the seas are fairly smooth this is fine. Anything over 2', maybe 3' seas and these become very risky. So, a fairweather solution at best with low weight limits for cargo (which includes people).
Yes, but this specially affects Delta Wing Design.
Electric ekranoplanes sounds really smart, but why are they not aiming for autonomous drive, or at least single pilot config? Should be the perfect thing for autonomous drive!
That would be a disaster, think about the liability if the craft steered into a billion dollar cargo ship! With all the problems autonomous cars are having no one would risk that.
@@nathanchildress5596 Autonomous driving of a car is way more complicated than autonomous flight. Autonomous flight has been around for a long time in airliners, although pilots still are onboard and monitoring for added security and redundancy. Several electric aviation players are targeting autonomous flight, such as Lilium Jet. I dont see a reason why ground effect crafts would pose a bigger challenge. Quite the opposite.
@@MattiasAllring Yes that's true. The difference is that those planes are at several thousand feet, as opposed to ekranoplans which fly within a hundred or so feet of the earth's surface with lots of hazards in their flight path. Now say your company is tasked with programming this autonomous flight system, would you be willing to accept liability for a damaged container ship or oil tanker?
Soviets stopped the ground effect aircraft project because it has a huge amount of disadvantages. It can be used on absolutely flat water only. Even tiny waves mean strong vibration and waves higher than 1-2 feet mean you can't use this vehicle. During tests, vibration was so strong so they lost their tail. Every small boat is a big problem because roll very limited to turn. And many more problems.
You can build a prototype but it impossible for real commercial use.
Modern aerodynamic stability control systems can pretty much totally mitigate the issue with vibration, and they can be ruddered to turn more like a car than roll like a plane.
@@benwilms3942 you don't even understand what you are talking about
It is making too many assumptions to insist that since a prototype had limitations, the concept is worthless.
Aleksyev counters each of your points, Lippisch can fly.
Sea state is always brought up and always overstated.
Is it more efficient than hydro foil boats or catamarans?
yes
Note about the Seaglider: I'd really like to understand the rationale for the high-mounted wing and its aspect ratio. It goes against all what I know about WIGs.
As the propuslors are on the wing, they wanted to make use of distributed propulsion. You are right, because of the high wings, the ground effect will diminish
A few interesting facts: Wig craft become safer (higher altitude) and more efficient at larger sizes. There have already been solar powered aircraft (Helios, Solar Impulse HB-SIA, Zephyr S HAPS) and I have seen RC solar powered hovercrafts. What if you combined these ideas. I visualize a huge rectangular WIG craft with the top covered in solar cells.
It would make an interesting aircraft alright.
Forget Cherbourg, how about us in Jersey (CI)? :-)
Cool !
Such an exciting technology that’s not being looked at nearly enough. When Boeing came out with their Pelican ground effect cargo concept I thought “that’s the future!” But no one has taken the next step. Forget self driving cars, we need to focus on this!!
You are completely right. Best on Tandem Wing Constructions.
Have a look at our channel Airfoil Flairboat. Thanks
Great toys for fair weather and calm seas, but both these things can change in an instant and this aircraft has no means of avoiding disaster. If it's only potential is for short distances then it won't be cost effective.
We have floatplane, so why do we need this?
Clear explenation 👍however this technoligy is not to use for staddy services doing to,ll the uncurton conditions of the water.
small float on the sea and line up to non powered glider plane that moves up like a kite and backwards cos float moves but has some resistance too from the water...could work
E mass production yan para s navy at marines.
This development is great but commercially its not yet successful on a large scale or perhaps not yet in the near future. After many research on the matter, it was disclosed that too many aspects are to be aware of such as collisions on sea and some other low flying object or debris strikes in open seas. Not also feasible operating at night. I do like the idea of the combination hydrofoil-wing-in-ground vehicle and the possible use of hydrogen as fuel, if said battery versions are still subpar in performance, due to weight considerations, limited range and turnaround battery charging. Unless there are dedicated sea lanes for vehicles such as these or for remote shuttle transfer usage between some exclusive luxury resorts, I imagine this would be probably popular only for the smaller market or for recreational use.
Maybe on some lakes or why not on rivers?
why not over land?
The Russians developed the tiny ESKA 1 of 992 lbs, which was a vehicle for flying along rivers, and over frozen tundra in Siberia.
In Australia theyve been talking of VFT very fast train, but distances make the cost prohibitive, as even ordinary track costs A$1m per km
A GEV would only require a managed glide way over land to connect places like Adelaide in the south, to Alice Springs in the centre, and Darwin on the north coast at 120-200mph
This is a transit of some 1,800 miles, and where the glideway would have less environmental impact than rails, and would fly over common fauna like kangaroo and shrubs.
@@z_actual A very advanced autopilot system using lidar and so on would be needed. But that is a problem that can be solved.
Wouldn't larger WIG's be easier to power electrically, not harder? The big advantage is that more mass can be carried per wing area, so doesn't it follow that batteries could make up a higher percentage of the total mass?
The larger the aircraft weight the more batteries required to make it take off meaning the more maximum take off weight. If I plot a curve of MTOW with increasing battery size than it would be a curve that rises and than falls. I will be explaining this is my next video
Fuel cell systems has very low power density, that is one of the reasons why even fuel cell cars are hybrids, and "fuel cell" trains and airplanes are essentially battery powered, and the fuel cell systems on them are best described as very complicated, expensive and inefficient way to charge the batteries.
Energy density of batteries does not limit aviation to some specific absolute capacity in number of passengers or weight, you can scale up the whole aircraft. Limited energy density limits the amount of energy, simply put in practical terms: the possible range. You can scale up a plane and use large part of it's capacity to batteries, and that way get long range, but in doing so sacrificing some of the useful capacity for the size of the plane.
Wing in ground effect vehicles benefits from being large, essentially they get more efficient, all else equal, the bigger they get. Just increase the size of the vehicle, including capacity of the battery system until they can carry the amount of payload that you want. Fuel cells doesn't improve power density, they add a lot of weight, for it's power output. Fuel cell systems add weight, costs, energy losses, and danger. That's why a few thousand fuel cells cars are produced per year, globally, while there are millions of electric cars produced. And that is despite the fact that the fuel cell was invented well before the first rechargeable battery was invented.
The potential benefits from using hydrogen as a fuel, over batteries is the possibility to achieve more range with less mass added, and the theoretically faster refueling compared to charging. But, unless you use liquid hydrogen, you don't save much weight because the tanks you need weighs so much. And fast refueling of more than moderate amounts is very complicated, and expensive. If you use liquid hydrogen you need to keep it cool, as it boils at 20.271 K (−252.879 °C, −423.182 °F) to use that as fuel in practical applications you need commercial rocket-territory money.
What about high waves or bad weather? A boat is safer.
Passenger capacity is the largest disadvantage compared to hydrofoil ferries. This tech is currently suitable only to the rich who can pay the higher ticket prices that would necessarily happen with these vessels. Still cool tech, though.
Electric power will the way to go...
Everyone gangsta until big cunami or storm comes!
But hitting a sailboat would wreck the whole thing?
8 years and still waiting
Time to set up some landspeeder races.
Ok, this message is adressed to Widgetwork directly. As owner of Tandem Airfoil Flairboat Technology, I have to tell you that there are a lot of mistakes within your report.
1st. The Airfish 8 is based on Delta Wing Design of Dr. Alexander Lippisch.
Liparische Design is NOT ownstable, there is need of electronical stabilisation, otherwise the Design is not practicable.
2nd. Tandem Airfoil Flairboat is the only worldwide unique ownstable system, determiniert by shape and the communicating interwing - system.
Cool ideas for sure but the inability to handle rough seas is a deal breaker in my opinion. All the artist's conceptions in this video show ideal conditions. It's hard to believe any place would be like that most of the time.
Great point. Horse latitudes might be the place where its operational most of the time
The makers and other serious studies say that the layman's gut feeling leads to false assumptions.
Alekseyev and other qualified observers say the usual assumptions are wrong about many points, to say the entire concept even beyond a few prototypes is worthless.
What happens in windy condition with 10' wave and choppy waters? Another gimmick, only possible in optimum conditions.
I am afraid it cannot be operated.
Any weather that stops GEVs and seaplanes, also stops all other aviation, small watercraft, and most larger watercraft have to either curtail or lose making useful way or any other operations.
Exactly. Cost savings are lost if you can't operate outside of a perfect sea state.
Electric WIGE aircraft might offer a solution to Tesla for transport of people and supplies quickly from shore to it's 20 miles offshore Starship launch platforms. The new 4680 Tesla batteries would be perfect because of their lighter weight and higher energy density.
You can't compare a Otter to this plane. The Otter is a legend that has been everywhere because it can go everywhere. It fly's when the weather says stay at home. If you want to compare engines to this new trailer queen choose something else. Whatever this new thing wants to be called see if in 50 years legend is part of it's vernacular.
Chill dude, he’s saying it’s more efficient, that’s it.We all know the Otter is one of the greatest planes ever, and it does a completely different job. So just scrape the salt off your hull and chill out
@@nathanchildress5596 No, he made the comparison, not me.
As a watercraft, the strengthened hull isn't a disadvantage, it's business as usual.
For aircraft, it's also an advantage, in that it doesn't fragment and churn the passengers into a fireball if it comes down on anything less perfect than a runway.
Chose which is an advantage. Most aerospace industry would rather carry more passengers than assure the safety of what they carry.
Since this is a watercraft, it's not a choice.
Martin P6M Seamaster had hull >25mm thick in front & underside.
Weather is always brought against them. Any weather with winds 35+ kts and waves 3+ meters stops all aircraft, small boats, and larger watercraft are severely hindered or effectively stopped. Alexyev as well as the Lippisch designs, and Boeing & Lock-Mart say their larger craft are good in sea states that are worse. As do Beriev and Shin-Maywah, for contemporary seaplane makers.
It's worth noting that Beriev bought back from the Navy, a few Be-12 seaplanes, to be worked into the "-200" variant to test & train with the water handling fire bombing tanker system to be built into the Be-200. After 20+ years in navy service, they had little to no corrosion damage.
Thank you for very informative comment
As cool as the use of that effect is, unfortunately it's very impractical in most circumstances. For a few islands in very flat sea this may be practical. But even for general coastal travel it's not very reliable. With a wingspan of 40 meters a wave amplitude of 1 meter would basically make it impossible to travel. Ferrys are very reliable to hold their schedule. With a WIG you'd be highly depending on the weather, which makes it very unattractive for commercial use...
while there is truth to this, commercial craft are envisaged to be larger than those suitable for private operation
In this way the civil version Cessna size 6 seater suitable for coastal operation doesnt require a pilots license, it is registered as a motor boat because it is surface traffic.
The bigger the craft the more sea able it is, and the ride height all the greater
Craft suitable for ferries would be much larger to be able to maintain their schedules on par with helicopters and sea ferries
I'm curious about how you arrived at 1 m seas being a problem since a 40m wingspan would allow a 13m height above the water.
@@stevemickler452 5% of wingspan was the number I've gotten from the video. That means 2 meters for 40 meters wingspan which is an amplitude of 1 meter
@@stevemickler452 he got his wires crossed I think. The ekranoplan types like Caspian Sea Monster and Orlyonok have the worst height performance in ground effect, more usually half the wingspan is the height they will achieve but at some loss of efficient performance. They can use inertia to jump over higher obstacles, but you wouldnt want to stall the thing.
WIG is a cute technology that fails in real world use - it requires a very low sea state or the air cushion breaks up and the plane falls onto the water.
As always russians were ahead of us by decades and only now are we catching up lol. Not all ekranoplanes they designed were for military contrary to popular belief, they also made some unbelievably amazing boats that would glide above water purely for a fast, comfortable civilian transport (I'm forgetting the name of the bloody technology right now).
This technology will probably debut to the general public when hundreds of them fly at wavetop into South Bessarabia and Odessa and Mykolaiv coast. We will need a Command and Conquer 3 video for that.
Seriously in military applications safety is measured differently, the speed and radar invisibility and annoying in between ness that makes them hard for anti ship or anti air to hit... All makes up for their vulnerability to rogue waves or obstacles.
A large number of small ones would be an ideal way to invade amphibiously. Just wait for a calm day.
i think this tech would be amazing in suicideDrones..
The people who like boats, why are they not interested in this? If they could be made as comfortable as a yacht, would their be any problem selling them? (and do put solar panels on the wings)
that ones got a big V8 in it
they flew round the world on solar and this is 2.3x more efficient so surely could be all solar powered? or nuclear. good video
Retractable wind turbines would only be useful when it's stopped, otherwise you'll be at a net loss. No free lunch.
When you fly higher than a hovercraft but lower than a plane.
It is incorrect to state that WIG's takeoff requires less power - until airborne - it is a boat that must overcome hump drug to start hydroplaning first - and then get to takeoff speed. Did you see those packs of start assist engines on the Russian ekranoplans, didn't you? Also, WIGs have severe stability problems - that's why we haven't seen many of them in use. These vehicles are a dead end.
Torotklee? Use a batter text to speech system please.
And you could do with a better spell checker
That's the reason why we need the ground based commercial transport and more importantly Aviation and Cruise industry to switch to Hydrogen based fuel cell ( for its much higher energy density) instead of electric.
Electric is only good for passenger cars and 2-wheelers.
Sonar detection, don't be silly, US nuclear subs could detect the Soviet Bear Bombers on their sonar just from their propeller noise.
I can imagine these being used to cross flat plains (plain-planes?) as well, like in desert regions of the Kalahari and Mongolia.
Electric Aviation ;-))