How about a boring ass electric train
Trains really tend to struggle over open water. Very difficult for them to stay afloat.
Regent – Electric coastal travel
301–310 of 333 posts
Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel
#302Earlier quoted context omitted.
As someone who carries a 20 cm metal rod through airport security every time and has not seen a single warning light ever popping up because of that, it is quite difficult for me to understand how the airport security is supposed to add safety against anyone who is willing to spend any time working around it - and who is motivated. (For the curious, there is a titanium plate in my body due to an accident)
I'm quite sure that if you carried the same in luggage or on your body (as opposed to _in_ your body), it would get confiscated.
If it was found, that is. If the metal detector does not see it, how do you think it was supposed to be found?
Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel
#303Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Seagliders have 5ft wave tolerance on takeoff and landing 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.
I also did the SRN 4 as a passenger and subsequently "cabbed" the flight deck when it wound up in a museum. Grandad of an offspring's schoolchum took us round the collection out of hours. He used to fly them (and emphatically said they were flown and he was captain and captain-pilot. There was a turf war between the civil aviation authority and the maritime regulator over who had primacy, depending on if the skirt wa…
Taking the Hoverspeed is the only time I remember being sea-sick, and it wasn't even a particularly rough day.
Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel
#304I can tell by all the comments that not many people here are pilots or work with the FAA on type certification lol
I was a professional pilot for years until I got sick and also did all sorts of work with getting FAA stuff approved, and I even have a float rating as well. The FAA certification is going to be a bastard here, for sure. I think it can be done, but I am pretty sure the feds still classify WIG aircraft as aircraft, which means it will be a major challenge to get all the new technologies certified. All it takes is mone…
Good to see a pilot here! I personally never see this aircraft ever getting certified. The SR22 was over $100 million total when getting their type certificate, and nothing was "ground breaking." It has a continental motor, Garmin avionics, NACA defined wing, etc. Sure, it's a composite and has a parachute, but I wouldn't call the design anything "revolutionary."
It's going to take hundreds of millions and an act of god to get this through the FAA. I don't see it taking the twin otter's place anytime soon.
edit: WIG out of FAA jurisdiction. Hope the Coast Guard is better to deal with!
Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel
#305If 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
Reading this thread, and seeing the Regent was mildly cool...but per your links i dug deeper, and wow amazing! It made me appreciate what the Regent (and others) are doing around this mode of travel; so cool! Thanks for sharing!
Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel
#306Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, that is explicitly not what I said. I said if you talk to this person even briefly, you will quickly realize the actual basis of his objection is racism. It is not subtle. What is your expectation of me here, to pull out some sort of video proof to convince you, the skeptical hnews reader? Sometimes this place is extremely tiresome. Just go do some googling and you'll realize how common this sentiment is. And it'…
> Read about Robert Moses and why he made bridges too low for buses. On that suggestion, I just went and read the wikipedia article on Robert Moses. It mentions that buses and commercial vehicles do in fact go under those bridges today, and that the accusations of racism are disputed.
"I only learned about this today and just read a wiki article and that convinces me you're lying" is pretty much the problem with this place in one shot.
Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel
#307Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a sailor I hope these dont take off. It'll put a lot of the water off limits to boaters. Which would really suck.
The COLREGs are clear, WIG (wing-in-ground-effect) vehicles needs to keep clear of everyone when not in displacement mode. Rule 18 (f) (i): A WIG craft shall, when taking off, landing and in flight near the surface, keep well clear of all other vessels and avoid impeding their navigation; (ii): A WIG craft operating on the water surface shall comply with the Rules of this Part as a power-driven vessel.
It's true, but I'm sure changes could be made ...
Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel
#308Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Kind of a mix of both really. 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…
I try to be positive about everything, but this entire idea is terrifying as someone who spends time on the water.
I highly doubt your pilot can spot a small fishing vessel or a kayak going over 100 mph.
Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel
#309Earlier quoted context omitted.
At 100+mph?
My sailboat uses radar, I can see things from a good distance away. Let's say 30NM. Surely the plane will do better. But let's say it's going 180mph, or ~160kts. That's 11min from first radar contact to collision. With all that forewarning, avoiding a yacht isn't a big deal. If they can't avoid it, they can stop with 11min warning. Let's say visual only. There will be restrictions on visibility for visual flight rule…
Just for others here, this is very misleading:
1) Sailboats (even moderately sized ones) often do not show on radar at all.
2) 30nm is probably way too optimistic, at a height of 50ft your line of sight is only about 8-9nm. Radar is LOS.
3) 11m is a terrifyingly short time, even if this was all correct
4) you can't identify things based on radar alone, and there's no way you can make out what something is even at 5nm.
5) there's no way you can see a boat at 10nm lol
Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel
#310Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why would a plate in your body set off a warning light? It's not a security risk.
I don't think a typical metal detector can distinguish between metal in my arm and metal taped to my arm.
That's why they use the full body scanner at most airport security now. One of those detected a small piece of scrap paper in my back pocket that I had to pull out and show to security. They showed me the image and even the shape of the paper was clear. For sure those scanners can distinguish between metal in your arm and taped to your arm.