"On a cloudy August morning, Thalheimer sat in the Paladin's cockpit and, for the first time, took control of his company's prototype craft to test its hydrofoils. The electric-powered watercraft has three modes - float, foil and fly. From the dock, it sets off like any motorized boat. Farther away from land, it rises up on hydrofoils - the same kind used by sailing ships that compete in America's Cup."
"What makes this vessel so unusual is that it's designed to soar about 30 feet (10 meters) above the water at up to 180 miles per hour - a feat that hasn't quite happened yet, with the first trial flights off Rhode Island's seacoast planned for the end of summer or early fall. If successful, the Paladin will coast on a cushion of air over Rhode Island Sound, lifting with the same "ground effect" that pelicans, cormorants and other birds use to conserve energy"
Regent Craft built Paladin, a 65-foot, winged, electric-powered passenger ferry with a 65-foot wingspan and twelve propellers. The craft combines three modes: float, foil and fly. It departs like a motorized boat, rises onto hydrofoils to travel over 50 miles per hour about a person's height above the water, and is designed to soar roughly 30 feet above the sea at speeds up to 180 miles per hour using ground effect. Initial tests exercised the hydrofoils with full trial flights off Rhode Island planned for late summer or early fall. The design aims to shorten coastal trips and offers possible military uses.
Read at Boston.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]