I remember one of the times that Ahmadinejad was boasting of Iran’s military prowess, he talked about a “flying boat.” Well, I thought he meant your run-of-the-mill seaplane, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard coming after the infidel West in a fleet of Fantasy Island puddle-jumpers was an amusing image indeed.
But no, I learned something as I looked into it. There’s something between an aircraft and a hovercraft called a ground effect vehicle (or sea skimmer, ekranoplan, and a few other things). They fly just above the surface of the water, and actually the International Maritime Organization classifies them as ships.
They’ve never been widely used, though the Soviet Union was sustainedly interested in potential military applications for them (transport, missile platforms, and so forth). They actually built the largest one ever, dubbed the Caspian Sea Monster by U.S. intelligence agents:
Isn’t that weird? Did you know such things existed? I didn’t.
Mostly folks play with the idea anymore—GEV development these days is largely recreational.
I’d think an ekranoplan might be an option for folks who fear flying, but would like to travel transcontinentally. Would their fears be allayed if they could see the ocean right there the whole trip, and if they knew they were in a boat, so if it came down, no big deal? I don’t know. I’m sure if it were economically feasible it’d have happened already.
