YOU might be used to take-offs and landings, but you soon might need to get ready to “float, foil and fly.” Those are the three phases of a journey aboard a seaglider, a new type of fully electric boat-plane hybrid that could become a mainstay of coastal communities the world over, according to its maker, REGENT, a startup based in Rhode Island, the United States. Just like a boat, a seaglider initially floats, then as it picks up speed it foils — gliding over the surface of the water using wing-like structures called hydrofoils, which retract as the vehicle finally takes off for the flying phase. It never reaches the sky, but rather flies up to nine meters above the water, to leverage a principle called “ground effect,” which promises a smooth ride with reduced drag compared to a normal flight. “We’re going to put humans on board a full-scale, 6,800-kilogram prototype later this year,” says Billy Thalheimer, co-founder and CEO of REGENT, adding that the first seagliders will carry up to 12 passengers and will have a range of about 290 kilometers, which would put them in direct competition with small ferries and seaplanes. More than 600 seagliders have already been sold for a total of over US$9 billion, according to Thalheimer. The vehicles will be manufactured in North America, but REGENT recently signed a deal with the government of Abu Dhabi to build a second plant in the United Arab Emirates, to serve clients in the region and across Europe and Asia. Once operational, seagliders will then connect Abu Dhabi to Dubai, as well as other island communities. The “ground effect” principle that the seagliders use isn’t new; it was extensively tested by the Soviet Union in the 1960s, leading to some prominent examples of “ekranoplans” — large planes designed to fly at low altitude over water, ice or land — the most famous of which is the “Caspian Sea Monster.” “Technically, everything that flies leverages the ground effect during take-off and landing, so everyone has experienced it — they just don’t really realize it,” explains Thalheimer. “When you’re coming in on a bumpy approach, then sort of get right over the runway, and the plane just sort of floats for a second before landing — that’s the ground effect at work.”(SD-Agencies) | 