Not Really a Flying Car But Maybe It's Something That Could Be? Hovercrafts That 'Fly'

Darwin commercial pilot, James Greenberger,  
has fulfilled a childhood dream by building
his own hovercraft in his carport. 

Most people are familiar with the concept of a hovercraft. Usually it's a vehicle of some kind that sits on a pocket of air, held underneath it via some kind of 'skirt', allowing it to travel on land or water. Typically they're mostly used on water. 

While I'm late to the party, recently an ABC news report from 2019 popped up in my YouTube feed of a hovercraft that actually looks like it hovers above the ground.

Designed and built by Darwin man,  James Greenberger, the commercial pilot fulfilled a childhood dream by building his own hovercraft: a ground effect vehicle, built in his carport from plans purchased on the internet. The original report is embeded below.

Darwin man stuns locals with a hovercraft built in his carport | ABC News

Cut to a couple of years later, and James has upgraded his hovercraft to something looking a little less DIY and named it the Sea Demon.

The Sea Demon Flying Hovercraft Wing in ground effect Ekranoplan.

While it looks like the craft is flying, it isn't. It is actually hovering. The addition of wings gives it a little more lift. Once it gets to a certain height it starts to drop because the whole science of the thing requires the ground (or body of water) below it to stay airborne.

Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder.
Image - Copyright Lucasfilm Ltd.

If you're a fan of the original Star Wars movie, A New Hope, your mind has probably gone the same place mine did, Luke's Landspeeder. A vehicle that hovers but can't actually fly. 

The science behind that vehicle is likely based on some kind of fictional anti-gravity device used in a lot of Star Wars vehicles, so we're not making a real Landspeeder anytime soon.

However, looking at the Sea Demon prototype, it got me wondering, could you reconfigure the profile of that type of hovercraft so that the wings were more built into the body shape, kind of like a Formula One racing car?

Sebastian Vettel F1. Sebastian Vettel Racing his Ferrari at F1GP at Silverstone.
Photo: Guy Percival

I realize the wings on F1 cars are designed to push the car down for better grip and aerodynamics but what if they were designed with the purpose of creating lift?

It's not a radical idea, and I'm sure someone's likely thought of it, maybe even built something along those lines? If you know of such a vehicle please let me know in the comments below.

While any kind of vehicle with a dirty, great big fan, that pushes dirt and debris into the faces of anyone standing too close, isn't going to become anyone's daily drive to the shops anytime soon, it would make for an even cooler recreational vehicle. One that is much more like the flying cars we were promised in the movies, that haven't materialised after the time period of each film has passed in real time.

That said, of all the flying cars we were promised, the hovering kind, like Luke's Landspeeder, is the one that would mostly likely be adopted without too much anxiety of it falling out of the sky. It's the most like our current vehicles, it just doesn't have wheels.

Maybe some day...