JHart13

I'm coming back to FSX after 2+ years away, due to work. Forgive me if the problems I describe have easy, well-known fixes. I sure have not been able to find any. I'm having the blank texture issue too. But not on the airplanes that come with FSX. Those all work fine. My problem is with certain addons. On Piglet Conrad's OV-1 series, all I get are transparent textures, both exterior and interior. This includes the panel, which understandably makes it difficult to fly the airplane. And on Mario Noriega's P-180, while the the aircraft's exterior skin textures work just fine, the interior sidewalls are invisible. You can look through the cockpit windows from the outside view and see whatever's on the other side of the airplane without any interior fuselage surfaces visible. This is annoying but not a deal killer -- I can still fly the Avanti just fine. But obviously I'd like to see it fixed. I also had trouble with slowdowns and stutters until I applied the fixes recommended in this forum -- now I get a silky 30 FPS almost all the time. But I sure would like to see what I was flying. Any help?

There are quite a few, apparently. From Wikipedia:"Some GEV designs, such as the Russian Lun and Dingo, have used "power assisted ram" — forced blowing under the wing by auxiliary engines—to achieve a hovercraft-like effect or to assist the takeoff. A GEV differs from a conventional aircraft in that it cannot operate efficiently without ground effect, and so its operating height is limited relative to its wingspan. Some GEVs are, in fact, able to climb out of ground effect."There are enough of them, in fact, that their performance with respect to ground effect has become a factor in their certification process (also from Wikipedia):"One difficulty which has delayed GEV development is the classification and legislation to be applied. the International Maritime Organization has studied the application of rules based on the International Code of Safety for High-Speed Craft (HSC code) which was developed for fast ships such as hydrofoils, hovercraft, catamarans and the like. The Russian Rules for classification and construction of small type A ekranoplans is a document upon which most GEV design is based. However in 2005, the IMO classified the WISE or GEV crafts under the category of ships.The International Maritime Organization recognizes three classes of ground effect craft:[16] Type A: a craft which is certified for operation only in ground effect; Type B: a craft which is certified to temporarily increase its altitude to a limited height outside the influence of ground effect but not exceeding 150 m above the surface; and Type C: a craft which is certified for operation outside of ground effect and exceeding 150 m above the surface. These classes currently only apply to craft carrying 12 passengers or more."These quotes can be located by inputting "ground effect vehicle" in the Wikipedia search field. So, WIGs that can operate outside ground effect are out there. You just don't hear about that aspect of their performance envelope very much because WIGs are supposed to be efficient vehicles, and a WIG above ground effect, even if it can be operated there safely, is just not as efficient as one in it. (And with wings that stubby, that's no surprise!)

Ekranoplans are simply short aspect ratio-winged aircaft. There's no magic about them, and no limiting height above ground, either (beyond those imposed on any airplane by lift, power and air density). They are just very inefficient aircaft when operated outside ground effect.