Worlds First Autonomous Ground Effect Vehicle/Ekranoplan? RCTestFlight Collaboration

[@phil.i.am2]

I’ve always wanted to get into R&D and engineering but was always told I’m not good enough or too old. However watching you guys developing these working models fires my interest, so thank you for doing what you do for us normal folk, that are stuck and pigeon holed in standard 9-5pm routine. Great content please keep experimenting! Hopefully one day some kid will be inspired enough and eventually get the break they deserve...

[@thinkflight]

Phil, you are the reason I made this channel. Let me go cry for a little while....

[@jeromebarry1741]

I was part of a semiconductor engineering design team. The company offered to help employees achieve college degrees. To get in the program, I had to get my department manager to agree. I was in my 40's. I filled out the paperwork and took it in to the manager. He refused to sign. His words: "I'd lose a good layout designer and get a bad engineer". Fuck him. You pursue your dreams. I didn't, and now I sit around watching youtube videos.

[@chrismoltisanti2763]

Regrets much?

[@berzurker]

Get yourself new friends. I've never been told anything that negative about something I wanted to explore. Bizarre.

[@berzurker]

Millennials are exhausting. The math on all of this is very simple. Women complicate things. Men shouldn't be hemming and hawing like this and needing so much moral support. Grow a pair dude. I went back to grad school at 45 to get my Industrial Design degree. Take the entrance exam and go. Simple. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gJXaqnSZf52daLc

[@rctestflight]

Awesome work! Can't wait to try it out!

[@thinkflight]

Can't wait to see you and Sebastian make this a total success.

[@greggv8]

@@thinkflight Make them easy to mass produce and they could be used to fly a grid over water for search and rescue. Put solar panels on top to extend the run time.

[@thinkflight]

@@greggv8 Solar is on my mind too....

[@GhostRyderFPV]

Autonomous Hat Trick - Ardupilot Edition. The Elektroplan delivers solar rover to a small island beach, occupied by Daniel and Sebastian, while being filmed by solar wing, with a PT gimbal fixed on the wing. Within the rover are the necessary materials to complete the human mission on the beach: A bottle opener. The only human interaction during the mission is to watch the perfect, HD video stream of their success and subsequent brewskie-fueled celebration, or to watch the demise of countless hours and a sizable monetary investment, once again, in glorious High Definition and stunning sobriety.

[@thinkflight]

@@GhostRyderFPV Uh, how did you know where this was going?

[@EnegeNG]

As a flight control laws engineer, I am truly amazed. Such a clean work and result. The design process, the methodology... Achieving such a good behavior of the natural aircraft. Then the implementation... Amazing!

[@thinkflight]

Thank you, I genuinely appreciate you taking the time to say such a nice thing and pushing me forward!

[@EnegeNG]

@@thinkflight Thank you for these videos man, can't wait to see that altitude control. That will definitely allow you to explore all the augmented manual flight capibilities and do some very nice things. If I understood correctly, for the final mission before the autopilot waypoint mode, you were manually adjusting your thrust and trim to enter ground effect and then just staying in it with a thrust loop with airspeed right?

[@georgedoolittle7574]

@@EnegeNG "No comment." Still...if you're Boeing, Lockheed Martin and of course the US Federal Government you need to take note as flying into or around the entire Southeastern United States just got a lot more economic as *"time is money."*

[@EnegeNG]

@@georgedoolittle7574 Sorry, but i have no clue of what you are talking about. And I have nothing to do with these companies.

[@georgedoolittle7574]

@@EnegeNG as someone who lives on the leeward side of the Ocean in Coastal Carolina I'm always interested in logistics over water and not just land. Overcoming "friction loss" obviously which this does "for those who have no idea"(totally clueless?) Anyhow glad to see the work moving forward on this a uniquely Russian creation during the Cold War. Right up there with going back to the Moon apparently.

[@coconutfleetsleeper5717]

Love the fish jumping at 8:14 😃

[@LMOTO3130]

Great eye!

[@lubricatedgoat]

"Gryphon" Ground effect on. Plus the cool-sounding name of a mythological creature that could fly.

[@thinkflight]

Hmmmm that has a nice ring to it.....

[@Blend3rman]

My vote's for this one!

[@licencetoswill]

thumbs up for Gryphon

[@majo2626]

niiiiice, also its chunky like a Gryphon, when compared to birds- regular planes

[@Jarmezrocks]

@@Blend3rman I'm with you on this one 👍

[@otm646]

5:21 even 20 years later I'm still going back to that book, I can't believe how much information they were able to pack in such a small volume. As a kid that was possibly the most influential book in my RC career.

[@danwood1121]

Those shots of it cruising above the water with the behind it looked beautiful! It has that sort of feeling like when characters in movie are discovering something.

[@glennnile7918]

The name should be "The Pelican" of course. I live in Florida and it is fascinating to watch the Pelicans using ground effect, so perfectly. Endlessly just gliding inches above the surface of the water.

[@pascal.mueller]

Sadly, our cows here in Switzerland don't use Ground Effect...they have an effect on the ground though, since they chew through the grass as if it was nothing! 😜 (absolutely loved travelling Florida btw!)

[@f87115]

Funny … but you don’t get to name it,,,,,

[@lillianlakes]

Spectacular job explaining ground effect vehicles for any novice to understand, and sharing the effort it took to get one to work autonomously. I love the vivid colors of the ekranoplan.

[@johncereijo6706]

Aloft of Love !

[@hydroworld-soontobemigrate6160]

These haven't been in the news for a while now. It's nice to see one flying again.

[@Simonjose7258]

I'm impressed by the paint job. It almost looks like a professional design.

[@thinkflight]

I took inspiration from some graffiti I found.

[@CHMichael]

Lol

[@toxaq]

would love to see some efficiency tests (battery duration) for identical missions at differing altitudes! Great build.

[@mellocello]

I was going to mention battery life. The whole point of the WIG is energy saving. The KM and Lun both use 8 engines to get out of the water, then turn 6 of them off.

[@tonywright8294]

Why ?

[@toxaq]

@@tonywright8294 it would let you know the most efficient altitude for the vehicle to maximise WIG effect, as @mellocello has pointed out. If you're not in WIG effect, or in a less efficient height for it, you're wasting power. If you're not actually in it you may just as well fly the plane at any altitude.

[@emmanvries]

Thank you for such a clear explanation of "ground effect"!

[@thinkflight]

Glad it was helpful!

[@flagship1701e]

Dude, you absolutely NAILED IT!!!! First time I've ever seen someone nail one of these from a scratch build (or other wise). Congrats Comrade !!

[@TrailChaser]

Great work! You definitely earned a sub and thumbs up from me.

[@gordonquigg9389]

Hey nice video. In the pic of the 3 pelicans, they are actually flying like most soaring birds and open ocean long distance sea birds, with the most lift happening the closer in you get to their shoulders, where they have fore and aft concave, lateral concave, as well as top view template concave. Just a massive inner section of lift, joining in with the body at the shoulders, with a massive refined fillet blending it all together. That way the lift is were it takes the leverage of the birds muscles, way less energy and effort to keep its self in flight for long periods of time and flight. Next the pelicans in the photo aren't that different in height. The one on the right is just much closer to the camera. But all three of them are actually surfing that ocean wave. So let's say, in dead wind, surfzone waves like this one, are traveling somewhere around 5mph and push an air wave above them, which give the sea birds a form of means of travel. They combine that with the added help of ground effect the closer they get to the ocean surface. They also alternate the concave in their wing span from that pocket near their shoulders, all the way out to their wing tips depending on the needed articulation to stay in trim to the air wave. Those tips are actually accelerating the air flow as those last few feathers flex. Like when you kick with swim fins. The tips of the fins are bending into the water flow and allowing you to thrust water backward and yourself forward. Albatross use their wing tips to actually barely touch the wave going extremely fast in air surfing the open ocean swells. And the prandtl theory says that tip vortex can either be drag or acceleration on a manmade plane, depending on the design of the wing tip. Next. On your model, the twin vertical stabilizers can have an extremely positive added behavioral characteristic if you give each one about 2 to 3 degrees of toe-in towards the nose. It creates an auto correct feature to the performance characteristics. I'm at 5:20 now I'm going to watch the rest of the vid. Also on those hydrofoil speed boats. Their engines need to be mounted in the front of the boat, like a common prop plane. The props can be in the back, but all that weight in the motor needs to be in front. Wow, great work. Excellent flight

[@Frontslash123]

Was waiting for the boat to hit a wake, and radio hopping off the boat.

[@princesfpvdrones]

lol, me too!

[@TillReymann]

Rarely seen such a humble guy with such an extraordinary craftsmanship and perception of the complexity of this

[@GhostRyderFPV]

Fascinating. You nailed it! I wonder if fully realized, this combination of a small surface-effect platform, combined with autonomy has a practical application in the real world. Really a niche within a niche, for people with very specific taste, on a certain day. Love it.

[@thinkflight]

Pretty much the perfect description of WIGs lol

[@GhostRyderFPV]

@@thinkflight I was thinking more along the lines of small WIGs, more in line with vital cargo like medicines.

[@petermurphy3354]

@@GhostRyderFPV Yeah form Canada to USA medication run like in The Simpsons lol

[@ShadowFalcon]

Awesome. Your WIG Craft looks a bit like a mix of the Beriev-Bartini VVA-14 (the aerofoil looking fuselage, and two pontoons) and the KM (the tall horizontal stabilizer). Absolutely amazing.

[@qpidrc9454]

Your work paid off. This is excellent

[@quincypurcell5222]

Those shots at the end are absolutely incredible. I hope this can become a full scale plane one day!

[@jonoedwards4195]

Pelikrano! Awesome, can't wait to see where this is going? Beauty TF, unreal stuff.

[@thinkflight]

Oh it's going places :). Can't wait to implement RCTestFlight's work onto V2. Thank you for the compliment and the name suggestion was added to the list of possibilities.

[@jonoedwards4195]

@@thinkflight Why don't You start on V3 right about now? Now?? NOw??? NOW??????????? Nup, Ahahaha,,forget Pelikrano, twas taking the piss outta, Sick anyhow, whole concept TF,,,, Is Go There Mate!

[@stewartperry7797]

Was lots of fun for me to watch this video and took me back to the days of testing ‘trim in ground effect’ on MD-11’s and 90’s at Edwards AFB.

[@PhantomPanic]

SWEET! Now I can start ordering my coke fresh directly from Columbia!

[@thinkflight]

Coming soon to shores near you lol

[@PhantomPanic]

@@thinkflight 😆

[@Jarmezrocks]

I was only thinking this at the beginning! My thoughts were 'I think I remember the Russian's doing this not necessarily doing this for efficiency, but for anti-radar detection? 🤔' So here I am now wondering who in that circles would watch this? Then I started wondering how stable it would be across rough seas? Like 3m waves? Does it maintain its "pocket of air" if wave amplitude differential doesn't exceed the wavelength.... Could this be possible? I'm gonna do some more research on Ekranoplanes

[@zogworth]

@@Jarmezrocks they just use submarines.

[@robpetrucci3434]

was thinking of the same thing.

[@christianmartin8751]

Very good job ! Thoughts to go further : Real Ekranoplans do not fly high altitude because their aim is to capture best performance due to ground effect. To capture that performance they have small wings that do not enable them to fly high altitude. If your prototype can fly high altitude, then it is not an Ekranoplan, it is just a plane that flies low and benefits from ground effect. To make a real Ekranoplan, you need to reduce and optimise wing size so that the prototype has the best possible ratio speed-range/energy. A way to achieve this simply with your prototype is just to load it more and more until it will be unable to reach above ground effect altitude. And then find at which ground effect altitude it has the best speed-range versus different loads.

[@titaniummechanism3214]

12:03 Look mom! No hands! Jokes aside, this is pretty awesome stuff! I love human ingenuity!

[@ThePolymath1]

I will offer the name "Albatross" as it spends a lot of its flight time in ground effect over water. and evolution has made it so an Albatross actually has a bone and muscle to lock its wings in an extended position requiring little to no effort for the bird to remain in flight. Great video! thank you for sharing your process and success! Aloha

[@guruoo]

Would be interesting to graph the speed vs the amount of current draw on the battery, as it goes in and out of ground effect. Well done presentation. Subscribed.

[@thinkflight]

It is coming for sure.

[@UDumFck]

Yes, had the exact same thought. How much more efficient is ground effect mode versus normal flying?

[@shuffleducky7803]

I might be very wrong about this, I have almost no experience at all, but it seems to me, because it's so small and light, that it needs to be much closer to the water, for it to actually use the ground effect, than what is shown in the video. It looks like it's just flying on its own and not using it at all?

[@thedummyspit8814]

@@shuffleducky7803 Was thinking the same thing. What is the max height for a craft this size to be in Ground effect? It must not be much if ground effect is as I understand it to be a compression of air underneath the crafts wing and the surface of the body it's flying over.

[@DaylightDallas]

At a constant speed, I would love to see a graph of height vs motor amps.

[@makingd.o.123]

I'm 54 now but when I was 13 I'd skip a frisbee off my cement driveway always thought one day I'd add a motor to it and see if I could sail it across the lake or something I could ride over the wheat fields around my home good to see someone working on something that was just a childhood dream for me

[@wilknoble6072]

"Sliver" - because that's about how much space there is between the craft and the ground in flight...

[@mikimosky4109]

I don't know nothing about planes or the phisics behind them but this documentary was so well done it really gave me so much inspiration.

[@northernfpv9562]

This is so cool! I’d love to buy a good ground effect seaplane! It makes for awesome footage.

[@michaelk5503]

That critter is quick! The view back at the boat up on plane brought it home. Thanks

[@WinArmyOfficial]

epic can i use small part in new comp

[@thinkflight]

Yup

[@WinArmyOfficial]

@@thinkflight thanks i will leave attribution !

[@BobHurt]

Magnificent engineering. Kudos! Bravo Zulu!

[@alishanmao]

You created an amazing float plane buddy :D

[@thinkflight]

Thanks man long time subscriber!

[@alishanmao]

@@thinkflight Big thanks buddy. I am actually surprised how stable that video came out of your plane. very relaxing and calm. in fact, one of my projects that i want to do currently is to 3D Print a one person small boat, then add my Electric paramotor 30kW motor (60kg of thrust) and I was thinking, if I added 3D Printed wings on my 3D Printed boat, I might be able to build myself a single seater ground effect boat plane :) Currently working on boat designs and am hooked on a simple one. Now i have to complete it, slice it and 3D print it, Join it and test then comes the most interesting part after its floating tests are done. by the way I saw RC Test flight video too. maybe we 3 channels can collaborate on this concept. I love going big and sit in my test machines hahahah. no more RC now.

[@paweldun]

8:15 a fish jumping on the left :P

[@JamesSleeman]

Would have been good to do a comparison between the same waypoint mission performed in ground effect and out of it to see how much efficiency is gained.

[@thinkflight]

It was not the goal this time, more so just to prove the concept and hardware, but there is a list of things for RCTestFlight to do and me on V2.

[@00xanawolf00]

The KZbin suggested video algorithm is pretty hit or miss, but this time, it was definitely a hit. Very cool video.

[@DonSanders]

"Loosed Goose" as homage to Spruce Goose and the birds in the research. "Loosed" as in set free from the human control.

[@edwardfletcher7790]

A bit clunky..

[@armoris66]

That first lift off of the finished model must have been sooooooo satisfying!

[@thinkflight]

You wouldn't believe!

[@BlueSkyBonsai]

I realllly enjoyed this video! Excellent work! How about E-krane ?

[@michaelfoxbrass]

As a guy who played with U-control models and observed early RC control models in the 1970’s, this is awesome!

[@donaldengel4128]

Drug runners around the world "Like" this.

[@axidhaus]

Sssshhhhhh

[@Slikx666]

Rostislav Alexeyev would be proud. He spent a couple of years doing test after test using models before making the KM. But thanks to he research you could take some shortcuts. In the end you've created a stable working WIG craft. Well done. 👍😁

[@maunaowakea777]

It looks like you made a wide wing floatplane. A true ground effects vehicle would not be able to take off and rise above a few feet from the surface. Maybe try adding weight?

[@jonathangeske8960]

Here in SoCal, we watch Pelicans fly ground effect for long flights with minimal intervention. I liked watching your "Pelican" fly.

[@psargaco]

This is very interesting. How does one know if the vehicle is flying or under ground effect?

[@Stevieboy130664]

Presumably it requires more energy for the former but am not sure what dynamic differences are noticeable between the two.

[@user-ct3ml6iu4n]

Awesome design she flies like a dream! Did anyone else see the fish jump at 8:14

[@genelomas332]

Vehicle name: Polywiggle - Polystyrene, W.I.G, Gets Lofted Easily

[@bernarddavid7714]

Peux importe l'âge, découvrir est un véritable Plaisir ! J'insiste sur ce mot; plaisir. … Vous découvrir, ce jourd'hui, alors que je suis sur la fin de ma vie, me rempli d'une immense joie , et d'un très grand plaisir. Merci d'Être !

[@thinkflight]

Monsieur, c'est peut-être le plus beau compliment que j'ai jamais reçu. Merci

[@EricDenny]

How is this a "ground effect vehicle" and not just an airplane, flying in ground effect?

[@absalomdraconis]

It's specialized for ground-effect, instead of being specialized for free-flight.

[@robert23497]

AWESOME BUILD!!!!! I can't believe a prototype worked this well. Unbelievable. I've only ever seen one or two of these ground effect planes and both were in videos on KZbin. Very rare and very cool.

[@NitrousBanshee]

I love seeing these but it wasn't as cool as Peter's one. His was cool AF and I think flew lower and actually in the ground effect. U kinda had a low flying plane. Still cool though. Just fly lower imo.

[@JimNichols]

I don't think anyone could really improve on the design and enginuity that went into this project. Great job sir!

[@conroc01]

A uniform planet is an awesome adventure for this particular technology.

[@z_actual]

Bravo, there are a lot of WIG builders but few succeed. What you have created is basically a Bierev VVA 14, with the area redistributed in a higher aspect ratio format. I know it doesnt look a lot like it, but this is how the VVA 14 was planned out. You could just as easily put tails on booms, as is popular with Russian designers to this day. As with all these things power and the combined wing aspect ratio dominates the point where the vehicle takes off and climbs out. Clearly to go fast over water, the math needs to satisfy those cardinal points. Otherwise you climb out quicker than intended. The other thing was motors. Forward motors are usually increase dynamic stability, and allow ram air to get under the wing and get the machine to unstick from the water. This especially if the engines can be canted to direct thrust beneath the wing almost entirely. It is important a feature on full scale because the power and RPM available is more limited than the model with electric propulsion. Lastly, ailerons should be up only, not opposing up and down as they are on conventional aircraft cheers

[@intersections2428]

What is not too like about this video ? No porn, no bad news, no harassment it is a great video !

[@fazrulrusdi3709]

Your test vehichle is already amazing.. Never thought it could surf on concrete so well

[@natevelar]

this is SO cool, man..this is the traditional American Spirit at work. very impressed.

[@alanmydland5210]

this guy knows his stuff and always has good things to watch

[@Bastlmartin]

I remember the "Savoia-Marchetti S.55" built in Italy 1924! Perfect Scientific Work!

[@ronniepirtlejr2606]

This is way overdue but, I like The Phoenix for a name!👍🇺🇸

[@dohc22h]

The fish jumping out the water was epic

[@oggearhound2242]

this is one of the coolest things i've seen in a while.. good job man!

[@TheBmboone]

That Taranis on the edge of the boat... You monster... You brilliant, brilliant monster....

[@thinkflight]

hahahahah love it

[@dave-in-nj9393]

I was amazed to see the surface disturbance with a height of 3-5 meters on the very first video over still water

[@sasakurtovic6850]

That fish jump at 8:16 👍🤠

[@cjcurryjr]

It's an ekranoplane! It flies with smooth grace and beauty in either mode.

[@dundermifflinity]

11.20 what a shot.. must have felt incredible knowing you built that by hand from nothing.

[@totalutternutter]

The reverse triangle wing design of the airfish provides passive stability so it basically flies itself inside ground effect while the original Russian ekranoplans design relied heavily on computer assisted aids to actively overcome it's inherent instability.

[@JustDoMeCrew]

8:39 What a beautiful shot

[@NoobNoobNews]

One way to narrow the altitude variation is to make this craft out of heavier material. The Ekranoplan benefits a lot from heavier weight. It won't be able to fly at high altitude, but if it is a pure ekranoplan, then I suspect that won't be too much of an issue.

[@rongarza9488]

Great project! Great script, great camerawork, etc. I wish more KZbin videos were this good. I also like the concept of steering by speed differences between motors.

[@JoeGator23]

This mode of "flight" is called WIG, just so you know. It is actually a great concept that has been around for many decades, cool video!

[@smonaghan000]

Fantastic work. I think "Freebird" would be fitting.

[@HarryVK4TK]

Faster and more controllable than a hovercraft! Cushion Craft! I would ride in one of these, what a thrill! Even better than a Hydrofoil!

[@garywalsh8878]

These were advertised on tv and were available 15 years ago,my kids had one

[@TESK4]

Nice to see this plane brought forward ...great history for original buffs

[@beavismount]

That is a beautiful lake and a gorgeous ekranoplan! For a project name, how about "[insert lake name] Lake Monster" in reference to the Caspian Sea Monster. I love seeing WIG vehicles getting so much attention in the RC community lately!

[@orangepants5749]

I was tensely anticipating a bump in the water that would shake the controller into the water. The scariest part of the video 12:47

[@annelafeber8362]

This is amazing,it looks like the plane can do both,really fly and Ekrano!!!👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@CogentConsult]

Call it “Pillow Water.” Nice job!

[@majoroz4876]

Great work. Take this around to high schools.........they NEED real world understanding of tekkie applications.

[@craigpennington1251]

Now, all we need is a full scale that can carry 10 people each weighing in at 250 lbs. Then you've got something. Congratulations on your 1st flight. Looking very promising.

[@mrbmp09]

Total success .... partially Quote of the year!

[@andersgrassman6583]

What a beatiful project! I just sit and enjoy in awe of what you have done!😊

[@bulldogneon]

this is awesome on so many levels, from aviation to kind strangers, to phenomenal design and building to caspian nod! congratulations

[@themobile6845]

Amazing! Two of my favourites: Burnelli and catamaran design combined! I have a similar prototype ultralight design in construction in Thailand!

[@oneistar6661]

Awesome engineering from end to end. Wow!

[@SunRabbit]

Great video! Not just the build itself and the science behind it all, but also its filming and aesthetics.

[@r.p.4683]

The propellers really needed to be in the front to maximize the ground effect ref to the ekranoplan, many thanks for the video, now I want to try it too.... awsome

[@michaelteran3844]

Hard to believe that this guy doesn't have more subscribers

[@fredtedstedman]

7:00 what a lovely calm day you had !

[@thinkflight]

Was amazing! And much needed for initial testing.

[@fredtedstedman]

@@thinkflight she flies fine ! In your chase-boat shots she looks huge , she could be full size !

[@mega.tron2014]

Это проект смелого советского инженера Ростислава Евгеньевича Алексеева! Спасибо ребята, что продолжаете испытания его детища, экраноплана.

[@petergoodall6258]

There’s a mechanism they use on hydrofoiling catamarans - a trailing link that skims the water and is hooked into the angle of tack of the foil. Keeps the height stable even over some degree of chop.

[@andrewsparkinson1566]

You should see the full size version developed in Australia 20years ago. It’s awesome.

[@MrShiggitty]

Lidar based autopilot is becoming a thing for aircraft. From what I've read from JAXA, they have a lidar that can detect wind so accurately now it can 'eliminate' turbulence (just go around it.) That's a forward version of lidar, now combine that with this system and you have a craft that is basically a meteorological station that can also fly lol. The crazy thing is that this plane can probably do a simple version of doppler radar too. That kinda comms / radar ability would be really significant to the air force and navy. They legit wand this stuff, this guy is gonna be rich off military contracts. Really with a few more mods a plane like this can replace an AWAK, no lie, that's how far micro electronics have come. This would give your military AWAK capability BELOW the typical radar line, that's insane, and would change FOB strategies.

[@ЛукаХолодный]

Congratulations!!! Very well!