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humanefly t1_j65mgq3 wrote

I'm interested in a vehicle technology called WIG(Wing in Ground) or GEV(Ground Effect Vehicle).

These craft come in different form factors. I really like the look of the reverse delta. It looks a lot like a seaplane, but the wings are shaped a little bit differently. Instead of being shaped to provide lift like a regular plane, they are shaped to force the air underneath the craft, when the craft is over a flat surface this creates a bubble of air underneath it. It "floats" on this bubble of air like an air hockey puck. It's similar to a hover craft, except a hover craft is designed so that the engine itself forces the air under the hover craft. With a WIG, usually the engine placement means that the majority of the time the engine is providing thrust to move the craft forward, not create lift. The actual shape of the craft forces the air underneath; this is not flying according to the technical or legal definition of flight. As such, a pilots license is not technically or legally required in most jurisdictions; it's licensed as a power boat.

So I guess the question is: would regular air traffic control detect a craft like a WIG travelling just above the surface of the water?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-sWokqiVHw

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davesellsnseattle OP t1_j65q6ii wrote

Im confused by the "WING in Ground". Is it possibly "With In Ground" effect? Ground effect is a thing.

To answer your question, unless there was a secondary transponder transmitting position data on board the vehicle, no friggin way.

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humanefly t1_j65s71r wrote

It's Wing In Ground; I think it's because ground effect does happen when a regular plane flies close to a surface, but this craft is designed so that it's optimized specifically to keep the wing in the ground effect, or at least that's how I think of it.

International Maritime Organization

https://www.imo.org/en/OurWork/Safety/Pages/WIG.aspx#:~:text=WIG%20craft%20is%20a%20multimodal,which%20are%20intended%20to%20utilize

Wiki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground-effect_vehicle

I'm in Ontario, Canada. We have a lock system with a lot of shipping from the Atlantic, and the Great Lakes. My thought is that it might be possible to use WIG in specific narrowly defined use cases: a large cargo WIG drone could in theory move goods faster and more efficiently than cargo ships; it would be slower than a regular plane but again, much more efficient because the engine doesn't need to provide any lift.

I live fairly near to an airport on the lake, and I have some bushland up North fairly near to another airport on a lake. I was wondering if I were to build a drone or a ship, and I kept it under 400 ft at all times and 95% of the time within say a wingspan or two of the surface of the water, if I'd piss off the air traffic controllers. I wouldn't fly anywhere near the airport from my perspective. I think you answered my question!

I do think if I built it, it would need a maritime transponder of some kind but I have to look into that; in either case, both airports would be accustomed to regular maritime traffic, I expect this would be no different from their perspective, but I was a little bit concerned about the potential of upsetting the military.

Thanks

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