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Travel near the coast where waves are limited in size. That means this thing won't be going from SF or LA to Hawaii any time soon.
> That means this thing won't be going to Hawaii any time soon. They claim Mokulele as one of their customers so presumably they can travel between some of the islands.
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> The protesters' concerns were that a ferry of this size could strike and kill whales during its voyages despite this never occurring during the years the faster Seaflite interisland ferries operated. NIMBYs ruin everything, I doubt they were really concerned about the whales.
Read on - what they were really afraid of was the dirty/smelly poors coming onto their precious island. You see the same BS with bike paths through residential neighborhoods. Despite studies showing that bike paths increase property values, residents bitch and moan about safety/crime. They basically figure that poor/non-white people will bike into their neighborhood and rape/pillage/burn everything. So you get a bunc…
Except that these studies are rather suspect and/or very narrow.
The situation for actual residential neighborhoods is at most unclear.
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Realistically these things aren't going to be operated in-flight anywhere close to the proximity of other craft. They'll motor from dock out to a predefined and clear[able] "runway". Once you're clear of a port most stretches of open water are mostly empty (even those within sight of shore) -- it should definitely be possible to plot "cruising-altitude" courses that never place you within (N) of a hazard. And if ther…
No. All of the major ferry routes they are proposing to serve already have a significant amount of vessel traffic. Seaglider operators will have to obey the rules of the road to avoid collisions just like any other boat.
Anywhere near significant boat traffic (e.g. in harbors), we'll be on our hydrofoils at speeds of 20-50 mph. So in these environments, we're just another boat (albeit a very comfortable, wave tolerant one)
We dont leave the foil to takeoff onto our wings until we leave the harbor. This doesnt need to happen on "runways" though. We'll already be at takeoff speed (~50mph) as we're leaving the harbor, so we really just jump out of the water whenever we choose to. This way we dont need to clear long stretches of water for a "runway", which has limited seaplane operations.
Absolutely agree: Seaglider operators will have to obey the rules of the road to avoid collisions just like any other boat. WIGs are actually already in the COLREGS (we're last in line for right of way, but on the list!), and our sensor systems will ensure that seaglider captains have excellent situational awareness.
If you haven't encountered wing-in-ground-effect vehicles before I have a treat in store for you... go and read about the Soviet Lun-class ekranoplan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lun-class_ekranoplan Then check out this Livejournal post where someone snuck into a dry dock and took photos of a rusty old one... including photos taken inside! https://igor113.livejournal.com/51213.html
"I would love to tell you that my first job was working under my Uncle Ros (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rostislav_Alexeyev) as we meticulously broke down and redesigned his life's work from the ground up, but unfortunately that's not true" - Coby Fleener
We've sold over 467 seagliders with a $7.9B order backlog spanning global aviation and ferry customers. I would think this is pre-launch sales. It's probably hedged with "subject to certification" risk, but it's still pretty solid, and if it came with sufficient deposit fundings to bootstrap the assembly line, all to the good. But, my understanding is that both boats and aircraft (and this is a join over the two) inc…
Seaglider entry to service is slated for mid-decade so you're spot on, all these are pre-launch sales. We're one of the few companies in the space with firm, nonrefundable deposits and contractually obligated pre-delivery payments (that scale with milestones as you mentioned) on the full first year of these orders. We take off at the periphery of harbors and fly over the open water in-between. Seagliders have 5ft wav…
But do sea glider passengers have a 5ft wave tolerance? That sounds like a wild ride.
But this is exciting... as someone who remembers taking the Hoverspeed SR.N4 from Dover to Calais, I know fast coastal transport innovation can be a game changer.
How about a boring ass electric train
If you haven't encountered wing-in-ground-effect vehicles before I have a treat in store for you... go and read about the Soviet Lun-class ekranoplan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lun-class_ekranoplan Then check out this Livejournal post where someone snuck into a dry dock and took photos of a rusty old one... including photos taken inside! https://igor113.livejournal.com/51213.html
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We're using lithium-ion batteries (for now), so charging is like any electric car. As long as you have the power to fast charge it, you can do a full batter in ~45 mins. That's max range (=180 miles) at 45 min charge. So let's say we're doing 90 mile missions between the islands of Hawaii, you only drain half the battery, so charge time is only ~20-25 mins - which is how long it takes passenger to unboard and board a…
Have you considered having swappable batteries, so you can skip the recharging time entirely?
Plus, this way seagliders can potentially utilize the same charging infrastructure as electric aircraft, boats, and busses.
What's the real benefit? Actual ground effect is strong but very, very limited - to about the width of the wing. The (wallowing) demo flight is well above ground effect. Also, the demo's downswept wingtips provide a lot of the "ground effect" benefit.
Most importantly, all of this could be done more cheaply and reliably with internal combustion engines. Why hasn't it already been done, if the demand is so strong?
Sorry, but the technical and legal loopholes seem way too small to thread.