Talk:Ekranoplan
From Academic Kids
I've removed the following paragraph from the article for the moment because I don't see the justification for it.
- The term ground effect vehicle is often misapplied to hovercrafts, which use fans to form an air cushion (hence the correct term air cushion vehicle) rather than relying on true ground effect.
Firstly, the article is about ekranoplans, so it seems a bit out of place. Secondly, I disagree with the paragraph's claims, the hovercraft's air cushion is very much a ground effect, otherwise a hovercraft would be able to rise to an unlimited height. Both ekranoplans and hovercraft rely on an aircushion (a volume of pressurised air) to support them. The main difference is that the ekranoplan uses the ram effect of its forward speed to produce the cushion below its wings whereas the hovercraft uses fans to produce the cushion below its body. The difference is analagous to the difference between the aeroplane, which uses forward speed to produce lift, and the helicopter, which uses what is, in many ways, a large fan to produce lift. As a result the advantages and disadvantages of the two types of aircushion vehicle are analogous to those of the two types of aircraft as well. -- Derek Ross
American intelligence "confused"?
I tend to doubt that American intelligence was bewildered by this if they got pictures of it. Ground effects flight is pretty well understood. What is the source of this info?
