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Regent – Electric coastal travel

regentcraft.com

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Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#141

Post by waiseristy »

lchengify wrote: post #137

Have you looked at the Seattle area / PNW as a use case at all? I imagine the geography would be perfect for a solution like this. Seattle has a pretty extensive ferry system that they are in the process of electrifying [1]. It's great for what ferries are, but I would love more options between islands. Some of the less popular options are limited seasonally, I imagine this is a matter of economics. Also I can tell y…

Other than Lake Washington, the sound is stereotypically windy. Ground effect vehicles don’t work real well in windy / choppy conditions

Though it seems like they have some special sauce which makes their aircraft behave better in these conditions

Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#142

Post by drewcon »

wthalheimer wrote: post #67
wendyshu wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What exactly is coastal travel?

Lots of examples! To pick a few: - Manhattan to the Hamptons - Los Angeles to San Diego or Santa Barbara - Interisland in Hawaii, New Zealand, Japan, Caribbean, Pacific Northwest - The global ferry market, huge in places like the Mediterranean, North Sea, Baltic Sea, English Channel, Southeast Asia. Actually, there are as many ferry passengers every year as there are airline passengers! ~4.5B on both... its a key mod…

Setup Boston to Nantucket…and just print money.

Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#143

Post by runeb »

rustyconover wrote: post #2

What if a slow moving sailboat came across this plane’s path? If it is using ground effect it couldn’t climb much.

Also, related to sailing or boating near this craft, the noise level must be quite substantial. At least not comparable to passing other boats

Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#144

Post by schoen »

wthalheimer wrote: post #80
dancottrell wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The vehicle is limited to ground effect due to regulatory limitations and because it provides efficiency benefits but not physically. There are different classifications of WIGs, class B allows for hops over things so this could be a future option. In reality a sailboat is a pretty easy thing to avoid. Since its basically flat on the water, there aren't many large obstructions to line of sight and something like a sa…

To be clear, seagliders are limited to ground effect in that it is physically impossible for the captain to remove the vehicle from ground effect. The flight control system locks the vehicle to within a wingspan of the surface.

What would happen aerodynamically if your vehicles got out of ground effect? Would they stall pretty much immediately?

Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#145

Post by waiseristy »

wthalheimer wrote: post #52

Hey guys - Billy Thalheimer, Co-founder and CEO of REGENT here. A friend reached out to say this is blowing up - so cool! (Thank you beefman lol) Here to answer any questions

What kind of sea states can you fly in? Any regions in particular that are more cost effective regarding weather?

Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#146

Post by voldacar »

noduerme wrote: post #128
KennyBlanken wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Really? My street was recently turned into a greenway / bike street, and it's brought me nothing but an endless bike parade of smug white people in silly clothing. Just a couple hours ago, I was having to get my car towed and the tow driver was 3/4 into turning slowly back into the street when two women on bikes zoomed right in front of him, causing him to slam the brakes. One of them then shouted "Thank you!" over h…

What's wrong with being white or wearing silly clothing?

Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#147

Post by piloto_ciego »

wthalheimer wrote: post #82
lastofthemojito wrote: post #63

I was initially skeptical, but seeing Mokulele Airlines (an airline serving Hawaii) flash by on the carousel made me consider that this might have at least some real-world uses. It's insane to me that the vast majority of inter-island travel in Hawaii (an archipelago where generally each island is visible from the next) is via jet aircraft. You have to spend hours (especially if you're checking bags) getting to the a…

Superferry was a huge case study for us. We went to Hawaii, interviewed everyone involved, and learned the lessons. We're taking a different approach that focuses on community and environmental considerations first. Look for more exciting news in Hawaii soon!

Are you working here? I would like to be involved in work like this when I get done with my masters… I was a pilot for many years and we need more sustainable air travel to rural and coastal communities.

Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#148

Post by mertd »

simonw wrote: post #70
wthalheimer wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Sold any for the San Francisco Bay Area yet? Half Moon Bay would definitely benefit from hosting some of these.

Where would you go from HMB on one of these? It's not like they would let it rip at 180mph under the Golden Gate Bridge.

Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#149

Post by nwienert »

wthalheimer wrote: post #82
lastofthemojito wrote: post #63

I was initially skeptical, but seeing Mokulele Airlines (an airline serving Hawaii) flash by on the carousel made me consider that this might have at least some real-world uses. It's insane to me that the vast majority of inter-island travel in Hawaii (an archipelago where generally each island is visible from the next) is via jet aircraft. You have to spend hours (especially if you're checking bags) getting to the a…

Superferry was a huge case study for us. We went to Hawaii, interviewed everyone involved, and learned the lessons. We're taking a different approach that focuses on community and environmental considerations first. Look for more exciting news in Hawaii soon!

How to follow along for news?

Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#150

Post by wbl »

schoen wrote: post #133
wthalheimer wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on the price. All electric means we operate for about half the cost of an aircraft (and about 1/10th of a helicopter). Combine that with similar speeds to aircraft, convenience of not having to use an airport, and zero emissions - and the use case becomes very attractive. We have some prospective customers eyeing Catalina, but that's actually on the short end of our range at ~25 miles vs our 180 mile max. Shu…

If that became popular enough, would you eventually need something akin to air traffic control for those waterways? I'm not sure existing water navigation rules and protocols would be a good match for these gliders, because they might not be operated by experienced sailors, because their altitude is also a potential collision-avoidance factor, but most of all because of their speed. I imagine other waterway users bei…

This is not much faster than existing high speed cats and way more visible to us sailors. It won't be a problem: they'll dodge us, and use 16 if they have to.
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