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Regent – Electric coastal travel

regentcraft.com

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Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#31

Post by vermilingua »

CTmystery wrote: post #28
wongarsu wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US isn't very good at building large infrastructure projects. Boats and planes have the unique advantage that you don't need a lot of infrastructure along their path of travel, unlike a high speed train. Also this can be used as a replacement for a ferry. Note how two of their launch customers operate in the Caribbean, where travel between islands is a big deal.

> The US isn't very good at building large infrastructure projects https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/interstate/finalmap.cfm But, yes, that was a long time ago. Still, we could find the will again.

The US can't find the will to build housing, how is it going to find the will to build another continent-spanning railway?

Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#32

Post by coffeebeqn »

CTmystery wrote: post #28
wongarsu wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US isn't very good at building large infrastructure projects. Boats and planes have the unique advantage that you don't need a lot of infrastructure along their path of travel, unlike a high speed train. Also this can be used as a replacement for a ferry. Note how two of their launch customers operate in the Caribbean, where travel between islands is a big deal.

> The US isn't very good at building large infrastructure projects https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/interstate/finalmap.cfm But, yes, that was a long time ago. Still, we could find the will again.

We were the best once. The railroad was impressive as were many of the dams, power plants, etc. at some point things went horribly wrong though

Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#33

Post by crooked-v »

fnord77 wrote: post #22
ok_dad wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are rules of the road for seafaring which apply even to these types of craft. A sailboat usually wins over a powered craft.

so if a sailboat suddenly veers into the path of this thing, what is it going to do? Collide or ditch "GEVs may be unable to climb over or turn sharply enough to avoid collisions, while drastic, low-level maneuvers risk contact with solid or water hazards beneath. Aircraft can climb over most obstacles, but GEVs are more limited. "

In your theoretical, why is this thing flying so close to a sailboat that the sailboat can "suddenly veer" into its path in first place? The average non-racing sailboat has a top speed of only about 8 mph.

Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#34

Post by mark242 »

ggm wrote: post #16

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…

> Could it make the Catalinas from California coastline?

Yes -- but there is probably no business case where that makes sense. Presumably your launch points are San Pedro/Long Beach, Dana Point, or maybe Redondo. In all three cases, if you want to get to Avalon within 15 minutes, you're paying for the helicopter service. If you're okay with taking an hour, you're paying for the existing boat shuttles, which take a whole lot more than 12 people at a pop and you're able to experience the environment -- it is not uncommon to run into pods of dolphins, whales, etc, on the trip over to Avalon.

In theory, you could open up a shuttle service to Avalon from San Diego, or Santa Barbara. Maybe there's enough demand there, but again the 12 person limit makes it probably a money loser. You'd have to charge so much that people would just make the 90-minute drive to Long Beach and shuttle over from there.

Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#35

Post by jasonwatkinspdx »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #13
Reason077 wrote: post #4

What are the operating limits in terms of weather? At only 10m above the surface, I assume bad things could happen in stormy conditions! I'm guessing these will be best suited to sheltered areas and fair-weather tourist operations?

It has three modes of operation: hull, hydrofoil and flight in ground effect. So it can operate as a slow boat, a fast boat or a ground effect plane. I imagine in bad weather it would switch to a slower mode.

Bad weather usually means big waves as well, so that complicates "just go slower" particularly when it comes to the foil mode. This is what's killed the practicality of previous ground effect aircraft but perhaps they've found the right niches for this one.

Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#37

Post by fnord77 »

crooked-v wrote: post #33
fnord77 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

so if a sailboat suddenly veers into the path of this thing, what is it going to do? Collide or ditch "GEVs may be unable to climb over or turn sharply enough to avoid collisions, while drastic, low-level maneuvers risk contact with solid or water hazards beneath. Aircraft can climb over most obstacles, but GEVs are more limited. "

In your theoretical, why is this thing flying so close to a sailboat that the sailboat can "suddenly veer" into its path in first place? The average non-racing sailboat has a top speed of only about 8 mph.

a 45-foot pleasure catamaran can do 80-90% of the true wind speed. 15-20 knots is not impossible.

anyway, if it is possible that a GEV can collide with a sailboat, it will happen eventually

Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#38

Post by dancottrell »

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.

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 sailboat is moving much slower relative to seagliders. It will be a simple “see and avoid” maneuver with ample time to react!

Re: Regent – Electric coastal travel

#39

Post by inconceivable »

mark242 wrote: post #34
ggm wrote: post #16

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…

> Could it make the Catalinas from California coastline? Yes -- but there is probably no business case where that makes sense. Presumably your launch points are San Pedro/Long Beach, Dana Point, or maybe Redondo. In all three cases, if you want to get to Avalon within 15 minutes, you're paying for the helicopter service. If you're okay with taking an hour, you're paying for the existing boat shuttles, which take a wh…

west LA (maybe SF?) to SB and central coast would make sense if this thing can deal with choppy waters.
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