Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Lee
I'm wondering where a ground effects flying vehicle could be used? 
Not over the roads- wires, light poles, bridges, and other hazards plus subject to being blown by gusts into "lanes" one wouldn't want to be in such as the opposing lane. All I could come up with was over one's own private property or bodies of water. |
You know, once upon a time you could have left your house, driven down the road and lifted off flying without limitation. Its the laws and procedures instituted since that hemmed this in to where it is today, and yes, as they say 'its complicated'. That in itself has created a lot of issues and difficulties that has held air travel back more than it has been any guarantee to safety. The general aviation aircraft fleet operated today are largely designed little different to the technology available pre-war in the late 30's.
For the most part aluminum spam cans with air cooled engines commonly without the features available even to simple hobbyist aeronauts. Just as off the shelf model helicopters come equipped with heading and altitude hold, a fly home mode and numerous other assistance for pilots, you wont find a light helicopter with these features largely because its too expensive to certify, or/as nobody else has done it first. So pilots struggle with 7 axis controls occupying almost every limb and digit by the 'virtue' of extensive training as part of the aviation systems regime. We lose mustering helo pilots all the time because we dont have a minimum altitude system to stop then accidentally connecting with the ground, its a statistical risk.
The operating environment would be governed around whatever your local laws are for particular classes of light aircraft, thats going to be tougher to swing in Greater Manchester than it is in Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, or near where I live where there are no poles and wires, not even fences, they even took the damn short wave radio away.
Within the legal domain there is usually an experimental class with varying limitations. So yes converting to flight mode on your local motorway and lifting off over the traffic, is not necessarily something one could legally access at this time. Off an airstrip, or where light aircraft operate local to you is another matter. Drive to the airport, drive onto the apron, down the taxi-way, onto the runway ...
It is true that traditionally GEVs are used over water, more because waterways rivers and lakes offer flattish surfaces that get the most out of the efficiency particularly for smaller GEV craft. However Im not looking at operating with a GEV envelope tho, Im just boosting Cl-max to get airborne quickly without any moving devices or additional complication. Once the vehicle unsticks from the surface and fly's in ground effect it can translate to free space as it accelerates, easy peasy.
that was a little longer than intended
