Nice video from a brief period in time when flying was still an adventure & a Major headline,

and the world generally a calmer place than it is now....

 

Big and clunky, and fantastic

 

Thanks for the post. That was indeed quite interesting and relaxing... :p0502:

Big and clunky, and fantastic

 

I agree, and may I also add Noisy B)

And it was such a nice idea, a flying boat. Back in the days, it must have been surprising if somebody spoke about large airplanes not landing on water.

 

Imagine how a modern transportation setup would look like if there were 737 flying boats and A320 flying boats all around. And major hubs would either be at the coast or near large water bodies.

 

Relaxing times, at least when looked from our more rushed ones. Sometimes people are coming in like hamsters on their run, in their cage.

Imagine just how much safer it might be if pilots actually had an opportunity to do an emergency water landing in case of unforseen circumstances, instead of having to be fished up from the ocean floor, piece by piece... :Idea:

And it was such a nice idea, a flying boat. Back in the days, it must have been surprising if somebody spoke about large airplanes not landing on water.

 

Imagine how a modern transportation setup would look like if there were 737 flying boats and A320 flying boats all around. And major hubs would either be at the coast or near large water bodies.

 

Relaxing times, at least when looked from our more rushed ones. Sometimes people are coming in like hamsters on their run, in their cage.

Trouble is, the extra power required to unstick from water becomes, along with the strengthened hull, so much dead weight once in the air; also a streamlined, stepped underside appropriate for water is unlikely to be suitable for air. Realistically they'd also have to be amphibious for routine passenger/freight flights.

 

Even the military don't bother with flying boats, despite not having to worry about the economics. It's a pity, because they are a nice concept.

Ok, I admit, not all plans on the boats work out. But the point on them being safer on those oceanic crossings is a good one. Until we develop the VTOL super-size airliner, those water runways look good and cheap. Well, if the waves like what you are planning there of course and play nice.

 

In friendly FSX waters, my Catalina enjoyed a short pause at times. :lol:

Big ekranoplans (like the so-called Caspian Sea Monster) are probably a better solution for sea crossings than flying boats, although nobody has taken up the idea yet as far as I'm aware. I guess engines would have to be designed from scratch for low-level operation as current generation aero engines work most efficiently at altitude.

Ah, that monster. Yes, impressive thing. If I got that right, they had those 'plenty' engines just for starting and getting on speed and then had two in the back for the sheer cruise operation. Since the thing was so massive and not so much limited by weight, it had a lot of fuel it seems. I recall the endurance specs to be impressive too. The smaller production thingies had props, not?

 

It's just the weather part which would concern me, same as on low flying planes.

 

On a side topic. Would there be any way to make the current normal airplanes bigger? That A380 already stretches the envelope and maybe the growth of the transportation needs leads to a revival of really big machines. Well, speculation of course.

 

You know, this one. http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Hughes_H-4 Maybe even bigger. And maybe even really flying. ^_^

"Would there be any way to make the current normal airplanes bigger?"

 

The answer to that would come from materials science, I'd say.

 

You can't just keep on scaling up the same basic design, because volume (and thus weight) increases as the cube of length-multiple (e.g. doubling the length means multiplying the volume by eight), but area (e.g. aerofoil surfaces) only increase as the square of length, so everything has to be made lighter and thinner and more fragile to compensate for all that.

 

You'd probably end up with inflatable planes (full of helium) as a solution, or just plain old blimps.

Here you go....

 

Imagine how a modern transportation setup would look like if there were 737 flying boats and A320 flying boats all around

 

I've been fascinated with the BE-200 for some years already. In fact, I've admired the Beriev designs for quite awhile in general.

 

What I am however is a bit confused as to the conceived role of the BE-200. Is it to be primarily a fire fighting aircraft, or a passenger aircraft? If the former, then the pax windows seem superflous... B)

Excellent vid! Thanks

 

Jeff