REGENT Viceroy electric ground-effect vehicle prototype in Narragansett Bay, March 2025
Posted by RLoret@reddit | WeirdWings | View on Reddit | 46 comments
vonHindenburg@reddit
Huh. I submitted this 15 days ago and it got no traction.
AstroMath@reddit
Looks like your submission is an Imgur link, instead of just appearing in Reddit, at least on my device. Not sure how to not do that but it dooms posts
FatStoic@reddit
if you submit at a quiet time you get buried under other posts by the time the americans wake up/go on lunch/finish work
kiwiinLA@reddit
I’ll give you an upvote mate
UW_Ebay@reddit
Love the comically small props. This looks pretty cool actually. What’s the market for something like this?
OffensiveBiatch@reddit
As big as hovercrafts
mmmmmmham@reddit
Trans Maldives operates the largest fleet of float planes to island hop through their atolls. Mostly Twin Otters. I think this would be a cool concept for short island hops and coastal flying. Day tours and such.
UW_Ebay@reddit
Oh right!! I actually just saw that they operated a huge fleet of sea otters. I’m heading to the Maldives in July for a surf trip on a boat but don’t think we’re taking any of those planes once we get there. That makes sense that they could use those.
mmmmmmham@reddit
That sounds like a dream come true
UW_Ebay@reddit
Yes it is a bucket list trip that I’ve wanted to do for a long time. Incredibly fortunate that everything lined up to be able to take this trip. Super stoked! 🤙🏼🏄
mmmmmmham@reddit
Well if your an aviation enthusiast and have time to spare you should give Trans Maldives a call and see if you can take a ride with them. They are always doing short flights around to all the resorts. Would be amazing to get a birds eye view of the place and fly on a float plane. Check out there seaplane port it cool 4°11'31"N 73°32'04"E
UW_Ebay@reddit
That’s a great suggestion - I am going to look into that. Thank you!
vonHindenburg@reddit
High speed travel between coastal cities and islands. Faster than a boat, less noisy and polluting than a plane with lower operating costs (at least in theory).
guisar@reddit
I wonder how they get operating permission for something like this. Very hazardous with other traffic.
30yearCurse@reddit
according to one of the videos the use, get this... "state of the art electronics..." I myself was floored by that statement. That they would take the time and effort and also money to use state of the art/
747ER@reddit
Narragansett Bay is in the USA, for anyone wondering where that is.
OffensiveBiatch@reddit
Not anymore, we deported it to where it came from because of the weird name and it was blue.
BigBoy1102@reddit
My Dyslexia read that as "REGRET"
2-tam@reddit
Would be a more fitting name for an ekranoplan
zevonyumaxray@reddit
Is that wing area enough to properly use ground effect? Can't tell from this photo. The "Ekranoplans" and even the "Spruce Goose" had a large wing and had to stay very low to use ground effect.
quietflyr@reddit
Ground effect is proportional to wingspan. Usually it's significant up to about 1.5 times wingspan.
But this aircraft is likely to be flown around 10 feet above water, which is without any doubt low enough to utilize ground effect.
The wings on the Russian ground effect aircraft were actually quite small, and especially stubby because ground effect reduces induced drag similar to how aspect ratio reduces induced drag.
Final point: the Hughes H-1 was not a ground effect aircraft, and did not require ground effect to sustain flight.
start3ch@reddit
H-1 wasn’t meant to be a ground effect plane, but it was horrendously underpowered. Just try flying it in MSFS
quietflyr@reddit
Go compare the power to weight ratio with other large flying boats, and you will find it's on the low side, but still in range of many other aircraft that were perfectly able to achieve flight.
Obnoxious_Gamer@reddit
And we STILL never got to see the fat bastard fly. A real tragedy.
TheBrettFavre4@reddit
I would guess they tested this heavily digitally and though models before full on prototype production. But I don’t know. Maybe they’re winging it.
LordofSpheres@reddit
You've got it pretty backwards - the presence of ground effect reduces, rather than increases, the required wing area. As the other commenter mentioned, the significant 'winglets' will help hold the ground effect further. Consider the Lun-class ekranoplans, for instance - more than triple the MTOW of a B-52, and 12m smaller wingspan.
Blows_stuff_up@reddit
It looks like pretty much the entire wing surface is blown by the props, so that should increase their lift significantly over a similarly sized wing with traditional props. There's probably also a significant benefit from the downturned wingtips/floats trapping the air cushion beneath the wing, as well as the question of wing loading - I imagine the weight to wing area ratio on this thing is better than the big old Soviet ekranoplanes, but that's just a guess on my part.
Seibt8i@reddit
what's the advantage of a high wing configuration?
Nuclear_Geek@reddit
I would assume "keep the engines the fuck away from the water" is a pretty big factor.
Seibt8i@reddit
makes sense, but I would assume that a lower wing would be more efficient. I've never seen a groundeffect vehicle with a high wing
erhue@reddit
try finding flying boats with a low wing, there arent many
Seibt8i@reddit
To my understanding, this is designed to stay within ground effect, unlike flying boats. That's why I bought It would be more comparable to ekranoplans and similar vehicles rather than traditional aircraft.
SothaSil@reddit
Yeah, wings tend to not fly when they're IN the water, lol
Cthell@reddit
The Boeing Pelican was a high-wing design, although it never reached the "build a prototype" stage
Pattern_Is_Movement@reddit
it will be just as efficient, it just won't fly as high.... heck I think this whole thing could fit UNDER an Ekranoplan wing. Also others are designed to withstand being in the ocean where they have to avoid much taller swells. This thing looks like a little bay commuter.
Cricket_Support@reddit
Also Captain "Ben Kangle" likes it if he doesn´t dip his (wing)tip
metarinka@reddit
Are there any low wing sea planes? FEels like they would be under water.
Armybob112@reddit
Wouldn’t it be better to get the wings lower?
ziper1221@reddit
Its a bit ugly compared to some of the old renders I've seen.
Bastdkat@reddit
Stop trying to make this happen. It is necer going to happen.
d_luscious@reddit
Billllyyyyy! You made it! That plane is looking good. Alex is still saying it won’t work. What a hater.
Lord_Hardbody@reddit
YES. YES. ELECTRIC GROUND EFFECT FLYING BOAT. YESSSS
ElSquibbonator@reddit
Ekranoplans are back, baby!
ChesticleSweater@reddit
Nice! A mini Caspian Sea Monster!
Sha77eredSpiri7@reddit
Nah, the Lun-Class Ekranoplans were like somewhat smaller KM Ekranoplans. This one doesn't resemble anything I've seen tbh, there's the Sky Fish Ekranoplan and that one's kind of like a mini version of the A-90 Orlyonok, a medium sized turboprop Ekranoplan.
RLoret@reddit (OP)
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