Water, the huge, open, "free" airfield.

Taking an airplane off from the water is a concept that is almost as old as the airplane itself.

With two thirds of the earth's surface being water and most major cities close to it, one can see why large amounts of resources were put to developing great flying boats and why even whole airlines operated their businesses without landing fields.

But there has always been a huge price to pay: whatever behaves like a boat in the water, is not going to behave well as an airplane in the air. Flying boat hulls and pontoons are heavy and create huge amounts of drag, sucking up fuel, time and money.

With the advent of jet aircraft and their comparatively high take-off speed, seaplane hulls would have to become stronger and heavier still, consuming even more of the precious fuel and profits.

Inevitably, seaplanes could not compete with the commercial jet airlines, and except for a few small "island transport companies", the flying boats and float planes simply faded into history.

But there are other ways of taking off from water. Hydrofoils can also provide the lift needed to get the plane to flying speed, without all the weight and drag in the air.  Alexander Graham Bell with Casey Baldwin, were of the first to attempt it. They built a quasi boat slash airplane called the "hydrodrome" as far back as 1911, and Italian Piaggio designed and built the Piaggio P.7 a racing seaplane on hydrofoils intended for the 1929 Schneider Trophy race.

 

After the second world war, considerable research was put into the development of hydrofoils for aircraft, but as airplanes became faster, two phenomenon that delaminate of the flow of water from the top surface of the hydrofoil became the deal breakers:

1. The first is "surface venting". This is the phenomenon that occurs near the surface as speed increases. The surface air is sucked down into the top or low-pressure side of hydrofoil, disturbing the flow and destroying a large amount of the hydrodynamic lift, causing the craft to sink.

2. The second is "inertial cavitation", which is the phenomenon of the water turning to gas, or literally boiling, due to the substantially reduced pressure on the top surface of the foil. The boiling of the liquid consumes a large amount of energy that is released when the bubbles of gas collapse, producing as much as several thousand kelvin, substantially impairing the materials of the hydrofoil. This energy is sacrificial since it does not enhance the lifting properties of the hydrofoil, and is measured as drag. Futhermore, the gas on top of the foil delaminates the water flow and also causes the craft to sink.

Both these phenomenon are completely eradicated with this new technology, allowing a craft to travel at very high speed in a stable manner, even on choppy waters. Click here to see the proof of concept prototype video.