2006-12-07 01:42:02 · 20 answers · asked by goodyear1953 1 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Boats & Boating
There is something called a hovercraft which rides on its own layer of air, and can, therefore, go on any flat surface but not up steep inclines.
2006-12-07 01:44:33 · answer #1 · answered by thejackallhaslanded 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
ekranoplan.
A great russian invention that works well on reasonably flat inland seas and large lakes. It uses the surface ground effect of airlift.
Very efficient.
Should be credited to Rostislav Evgenievich Alexeev, a russian scientist/engineer whose work in the 40's and 50's gave us the russian ekranoplan.
Hydrofoil boats are a derivative of ekranoplan for people that don't have the guts to go at 400 MPH a few feet above the sea.!
Some other smallscale companies make them for 1 or 2 people. But the russians had is nailed with a monster of a plane that carries hundreds of tons.
The largest had a displacement of 400 tonnes, travelled 5 feet above the water at 550 KPH....a monster at 74 (L)Ñ
44(B)Ñ
19 (H) metres
a couple of links:
http://www.aether.demon.co.uk/coolkit/ekranoplan.html
http://www.globalaircraft.org/planes/lun_ekranoplan.pl
A modern small version:
http://aquaglide.ru/index_e.htm
AIRBOATS in florida are not the same, they are just very lightweight pans that skip over the water. Ekranoplan do not touch the water once airborne, to do so would be fatal because of thier speed.
Its a shame so many people knocked your question, it justs shows thier ignorance rather than anything you asked wrong.
There is a UK Channel 4 documentary about the russian Ekranoplans. Its so extraordinary that you'd think it was an April fools joke.
2006-12-11 08:41:55 · answer #2 · answered by Michael H 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A hovercraft, for one. I rode on one across the San Francisco Bay from SF to Oakland. We boarded on the sloping launch "pad"; the air started and pushed it up and it floated on this powerful blast of downward air, lifting the craft up. I guess they had a kind of throttle, and we went forward ONTO the water! It was amazing; I think I remember it as noisy; and was choppy as was the water. We approached the ramp up and sailed right up to the "anchor". We disembarked and I took the helicopter back across! They discontinued it later. Don't know why.
2006-12-08 00:05:41 · answer #3 · answered by Martell 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Have a look here for the history of hovercrafts: http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blhovercraft.htm
Airboats, as used in the Everglades, are shallow draught punts that skim over the water's surface and low vegetation, but don't actually ride on a cushion of air like the hovercraft.
2006-12-07 09:53:48 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Their are two types hovercraft and the lesser known surface effect ships which basically fly over the waves at an altitude of several feet.
2006-12-07 11:41:49 · answer #5 · answered by brian L 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Ekranoplan. The Monster Of The Caspian Sea. Google it.
2006-12-07 15:55:04 · answer #6 · answered by Phish 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
A hover craft floats on air. Can be made to carry 1 person to large craft carring up tp 30. Type in hover .com to find dats.
2006-12-07 11:09:26 · answer #7 · answered by Dave S 1 · 1⤊ 2⤋
There are several- air boat, hovercraft, even a dirigible.
2006-12-07 09:45:04 · answer #8 · answered by c.arsenault 5 · 0⤊ 3⤋
it's called a hover craft, or air foil.
It runs on top of canvas bags filled with high volumes of air
2006-12-07 09:49:55 · answer #9 · answered by duster 6 · 1⤊ 3⤋
An airboat. Go read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_boat
Think of the tours through the Florida everglades. They use them.
2006-12-07 09:49:37 · answer #10 · answered by oklatom 7 · 0⤊ 3⤋