Airfish 8 - Ground Effect Machine

[red750]

https://www.facebook.com/cheddar/videos/2348114442175947

[Jerry_Atrick]

Looks good, but asre they limied to calm waters?

[Yenn]

The Russians explored this concept years ago and it was called Ekranoplane.

A friend of mine worked on a similar concept in Cairns about ten years ago. He tells me he has all the info about the planes he worked on, but it was not a viable idea.

[Marty_d]

They were building them here in southern Tas for a while too, only about 10km from our place.  Not sure what happened but they went off the radar.  (No pun intended!)

[onetrack]

The Airfish 8 just doesn't stack up. It's powered by 2 humungous Chev LS3 V8's producing 500HP each. They guzzle fuel at 70 l/hr. The fuel capacity is stated as 200kg, which is 270 litres.

 

That seems barely adequate, it's about 3hrs and 50 mins to total fuel exhaustion - more like 3 hrs useable fuel. I don't know how long it takes to get to cruise speed, but I'd imagine a lot of fuel would get burnt up, just in getting up to speed.

 

All for just 8 passengers? They might as well go by air in a big twin, with less engine HP overall - and travel much faster. 

 

A Cessna 402 Businessliner has 2 x TSIO-520's producing 325HP each, it carries 780 litres of useable fuel, takes up to 10 pax, and has a range of 1270 NM.

 

https://www.ship-technology.com/projects/airfish-8-wig-craft/

 

Edited April 30, 2021 by onetrack

[nomadpete]

Some years ago there was a ground effect machine operating on Port Phillip Bay, during a motor racing event. I didn't see it myself, but recall reading that it was a six seater, and powered by a pair of four cylinder motorcycle engines. 

Maybe my memory is failing, but that power was frugal compared to what is posted above.

 

[spacesailor]

Racing ' skiff,s' often take to the SKY,!

spacesailor