This Ship Is a Hovercraft Until It’s an Airplane
29th March 2016
Taking advantage of the ground effect in aerodynamics, by which a vehicle flying fast and low generates lift under the wings and reduces drag, making the plane almost float above the surface of the sea. For decades Soviet engineers built special vehicles called Ekranoplans to take advantage of this ability over shallow water, lakes, and rivers. Boeing even looked into the design for a cargo vehicle.
The chief roadblocks to doing this sort of thing is, as you might expect, government regulation. The key is to keep the flight low enough that it doesn’t qualify as an ‘aircraft’ sufficient to bring it within the clutches of agencies like the FAA.