Toys

[den]

This looks like fun: a hovercraft that is also a ground-effects aircraft. I know hovercraft are also GEVs, but they are limited by their cushion height.

Comments

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

Interesting combination design, but I can see a couple of problems with it just from those video clips.

From the way it handles, it's obvious that the current incarnation is actually badly underpowered in terms of thrust and lift. The dedicated lifting fan seems adequate for the job in hover mode, but it either needs to increase engine capacity & rotor speed to increase thrust and therefore airspeed over the wings, or it needs bigger wings while operating in GEV mode.

The craft also has some stability problems, both on the z-axis and in terms of craft orientation. These have clearly been partly solved by the addition of a large horizontal tail-plane & vertical rudder assembly on a projecting boom [to gain leverage]... however, this does not seem to be working well as the craft still has problems handling, and the 'fix' introduces problems of it's own.

The current design is seriously flawed and tail heavy, the tail assemblage is vulnerable to impact damage, and it 'drags' significantly, meaning the craft flies in a nose up position, leaving the tail lower than the body of the craft. This increases aerodynamic drag and increases the risk of damage to the rudder as well as decreasing the applied thrust since it tends to vector it downwards rather than forwards.

I'd say if you were going to buy one, wait for the Mk2 or insist on a redesign around a bigger engine for a start, and with a swept forward wing configuration for stability and better rudder design.