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It's 60 years since the British inventor Christopher Cockerell demonstrated the principles of the hovercraft using a cat food tin and a vacuum cleaner. Great things were promised for this mode of transport, but it never really caught on. Why?
The hovercraft slides down a concrete ramp and into the Solent. Its engines, propellers and fans hum as it crosses from Southsea, in Hampshire, to Ryde, on the Isle of Wight, travelling 4.4 nautical miles in under 10 minutes.
The journey is more than twice as quick as the catamaran from Portsmouth to Ryde and more than four times as quick as the Portsmouth-to-Fishbourne ferry.
For that matter, why haven't hydrofoils caught on?
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What Happened to Passenger Hovercraft?
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Everyone hates me because I'm paranoid.
(Score: 2) by fnj on Thursday November 12 2015, @01:30AM
The economic unsuitability of the hovercraft (and hydrofoil) is formidable. It is too poor in relation to the Karman-Gabrielli relationship, which plots specific propulsion power vs speed. There are other severe problems, such as torturous noise levels, wear to the skirts, and vulnerability to side winds.
The equivalent lift-to-drag ratio L/D is basically too low for the speed yielded by the hovercraft.
(Score: 2) by arslan on Thursday November 12 2015, @03:58AM
So the science to overcome these problems have been done to death and there really is no solution or we just haven't really tried?