Re:Passenger with “no idea how to fly” lands plane after pil...
by dredmorbius on Thursday May 12, 2022 @06:51AM
(#31352086)
I'd thought that there were only a few prototype Erkanoplans built, though it seems there actually was an operational fleet.
There's a particular larger model intended for defence purposes which saw only a single prototype, now abandoned.
The Soviet Navy ordered 120 Orlyonok-class ekranoplans, but this figure was later reduced to fewer than 30 vessels, with planned deployment mainly in the Black Sea and Baltic Sea fleets.
For water use, hovercraft tend to be more flexible. They still experience issues in rough water, and though they can cross flat unimproved terrain (beaches, swamps, snow, meadows), they perform quite poorly on slopes, particularly laterally, and generally have poor lateral stability, notably with high winds.
Hydrofoils accomplish much the same capability on water. Tracked vehicles on land. Not having to support your mass dynamically also helps. That said, hovercraft remain useful for military marine beach landings. And eels.
There's a particular larger model intended for defence purposes which saw only a single prototype, now abandoned.
The Soviet Navy ordered 120 Orlyonok-class ekranoplans, but this figure was later reduced to fewer than 30 vessels, with planned deployment mainly in the Black Sea and Baltic Sea fleets.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground-effect_vehicle#Soviet_U...
There is one specific prototype which has seen some attention (article and videos), the so-called "Caspian Sea Monster":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspian_Sea_Monster
On HN a couple of years back:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24857096
For water use, hovercraft tend to be more flexible. They still experience issues in rough water, and though they can cross flat unimproved terrain (beaches, swamps, snow, meadows), they perform quite poorly on slopes, particularly laterally, and generally have poor lateral stability, notably with high winds.
Hydrofoils accomplish much the same capability on water. Tracked vehicles on land. Not having to support your mass dynamically also helps. That said, hovercraft remain useful for military marine beach landings. And eels.