Are we going to link this article another 30 times?
Yeah but $5 electricity, plane go brooom, it’s science!
120 mile range plane was science at KittyHawk.
How much fuel $ does it cost to fly a comparable gas plane for the same time?
Some rough math based on https://www.aircraft-commerce.com/wp-content/uploads/aircraft-commerce-docs/Aircraft guides/DASH 8 & Q SERIES/ISSUE63_DASH8FUEL.pdf suggests a Dash-8 100 series aircraft (similar passenger capacity turboprop plane) would burn something like 57 gallons on a 27 minute flight, assuming $4/gal results in $228 fuel cost
If we can have electric planes, what about electric hovercraft to replace some ferry routes?
Shut up about electric ferries. I want more hovercraft.
I’m so sorry. They’re very cool but incredibly impractical. There’s no way an insurer is going to cover a boat that basically is guaranteed to sink if it loses power.
all commercial hovercraft are watertight and buoyant even when the engines are off.
Ah! Good to know!
I heard a hovercraft this morning, pretty sure they insure it, certainly has passengers.
Have heard rumours that they are looking to open up another route but I think its only seasonal and very infrequent. Hope it takes off though - pun not intended, but appreciated.
Never heard of a plane that managed to keep going without power and yet those can be insured. Also you can (apparently most do) make hovercraft with a buoyant hull.
Yes, floating is good. Planes have lifting bodies, so they can glide for quite a while without power.
Would love my own hovercraft, but they are pretty expensive. Not sure how I would legally transport it either.
There are still a handful of commercial hovercraft routes.
But it’s the only British tech innovation of the last 100 years.