‘Ekranoplan’

Ekranoplans were essentially seaplanes. They could float like a boat but could glide across large bodies of water at aircraft like speeds. They employed the use of ground effect but were impractical. This spaceship looking behemoth is a Soviet A90 ‘Ekranoplan’ or in aeronautical terms a GEV (Ground Effect Vehicle). Ground Effect is an aerodynamic phenomena that occurs when a fixed wing aircraft is close to a fixed surface (runways, terrain, water etc). It is said to be the reduction in aerodynamic drag that the aircrafts wings generate. This generally is observed at takeoff. When the aircraft is at an altitude of roughly half its wingspan there is a ‘floating’ effect observed. The wing tip vortices are no longer generated on account of a higher pressure on the lower surface of the airfoil. It can be said that ground effect is the extra or improved lift generated at takeoff.