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Strange Flying Machine.

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Attempt Cool Craft Crew Dinghy Effect Flying Girls Ground Homemade Inventor Machines Mad Odd Airplanes Prototype Scientists Seas Small Strange Tank Unusual Wanted
nixontankgirl
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    nixontankgirl
  • International International
  • Comments: 0
  • Views: 769
  • Added: 25-May-08

I was sitting on my yacht anchored in Nelson, NZ one morning. In the far distance I was vaguely aware of some type of boat racing up and down. I could hear the engine screaming and could see the wake of the 'boat'. For some reason I kept my eye on it over the next 40 minutes. I slowly realized that occasionally the wake would vanish and reappear. Even though it was a dot on the horizon at the far end of the bay I realized that it was some type of home made flying boat that was having problems getting airborne for any length of time. Another 30 mins passed with the craft racing up and down and then seeming to stop for some fine tuning before having another attempt. And then the pilot turned 90 degrees and came racing up the bay straight towards me. He seemed to have a bit of trouble keeping the wing tips out of the water and the craft appeared to be slightly sensitive. You will notice that at the end of the movie he starts to drag a wing tip. However I am sure that he will iron out all these problems and soon we will all have flying dingies! I raced inside and grabbed my camera. I apologize for the really poor photography but I had several things going on at once and was not prepared to start filming on such short notice.
And check out my web site. I spend a lot of time sailing in the South Pacific and am often looking for crew.
http://sailontankgirl.com/

  1. Categories: Science & Tech
Comments on

Strange Flying Machine.

3 Comments | Add Comment
  • Interesting video! ...

    Interesting video! Technically, it's a "wing in ground-effect" plane ("WiG"), or a "surface-effect ship". It's not supposed to fly higher than a few feet off the water. The Russians were big into them in the '50s through '70s, as military and transport ships. Theoretically, they're more fuel efficient than airplanes but much faster than boats. Search "Ekranoplan" on YouTube and you can see videos of HUGE examples (with 8 jet engines!)

    By bricology [Affiliate User] 1216817051 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
  • oh! I have heard of ...

    oh! I have heard of them, but I didn't know that I had seen one! Cheers.

    By nixontankgirl [Affiliate User] 1216390800 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
  • it's a ground ...

    it's a ground effect plane

    By idefender2k [Affiliate User] 1215894048 Reply Spam Moderate Up Moderate Down
3 Comments | Add Comment
 
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