6 ms·
>all the expense, fuel usage, load limitations and risk of a plane perpetually two seconds after takeoff Well not quite; the appeal of the ekranoplan is that i
by dTal 4y ago
>all the expense, fuel usage, load limitations and risk of a plane perpetually two seconds after takeoff
Well not quite; the appeal of the ekranoplan is that it uses considerably less fuel and/or can carry considerably more weight than an aircraft of similar size. The risk profile is also different if catastrophic failure simply means you unexpectedly become a boat.
- taneq 4y agoIt's not perfectly analogous, I'll grant you... but at flight speed, even ground-effect flight speed, I think the consequences of hitting a larger than expected wave, or dipping a wing in the water after a gust of wind, are worse than just becoming a boat. (Maybe becoming what a boat would become if you dropped it from 2-3m at 100+mph...)