Unconventional Vehicles

Unconventional Vehicles — page 7 — AIRBUS BELUGA manufacturer Airbus date of production 1992 1999 airbus beluga Bubous is the word that comes to mind when I look at this airplane The A300-600ST Super Transporter more commonly referred to as the Airbus Beluga is used to carry airplane parts big airplane parts from one Airbus assembly location in Europe to another We’re talking entire fuselages wings and tails all loaded into the upper deck of the airplane through its massive forehead Five of these planes have been flying around since the 1990s but what will they do when airplanes get even bigger I guess they’ll need to build an even bigger Beluga Oh wait they are Coming soon the Beluga XL 8

Unconventional Vehicles — page 8 — open wide Although the Airbus Beluga is a variation on the standard A300 airliner which can seat 266 passengers this cargo plane flies with just two pilots and an engineer The rest of the 184-foot 56-metre beast is simply a gigantic carrying case In addition to haul ing Airbus parts the Beluga has also been chartered to transport relief supplies entire helicopters modules for NASA and even once an oversized painting from the Louvre beluga whale versus beluga airplane An adult beluga whale weighs 3,000 pounds 1,400 kilograms on average A Beluga airplane weighs 191,000 pounds 86,600 kilograms A beluga whale can swim backward A Beluga airplane cannot Move backward I mean It can’t swim in any direction A pushback tractor is used to move the airplane in reverse The beluga whale’s forehead changes shape when it makes sounds The shape of the Airbus Beluga’s head does not change shape unless you consider opening the cargo door Beluga whales eat up to 60 pounds 27 kilograms of food a day The Airbus Beluga consumes up to 9,095 U S gallons 269 litres of fuel in a single flight The Beluga whale is threatened by oil and gas development The Airbus Beluga is threatened by a lack of oil and gas development 9

Unconventional Vehicles — page 9 — AIRFISH 8 manufacturer Wigetworks date of production 2010 Nope it’s not taking off And no it’s not landing The cruising altitude for the Airfish 8 is only up to 23 feet 7 metres above water Technically it’s not an airplane at all or a boat or hov ercraft for that matter It’s a ground effect vehicle a hybrid that uses what’s known as the ground effect to glide just a few feet above the waves Powered by only a V8 car engine the Airfish 8 can carry 8 to 10 passengers and travel up to 122 miles 196 kilometres per hour three times faster than most cruiser style motorboats Although it’s still be ing tested Wigetworks hopes the Airfish will soon be used for tourism sea patrol and just about any marine travel you can think of In other words they hope it takes off See what I did there 10

Unconventional Vehicles — page 10 — what is this ground effect you speak of In short ground effect is when the airflow beneath the wings is interrupted by the surface underneath it the ground for instance or water as in this case The interruption creates additional lift and less drag Don’t believe me Ask just about any large bird how do you say been there done that in russian Bartini Beriev VVA-14 1972 This Cold War creature was designed to fly as both a ground-effect vehicle and a high-altitude aircraft The VVA-14 was built in response to the threat of Amer ican missile submarines It made 107 flights before retiring to the Russian Air Force Museum Lun Ekranoplan MD-160 1987 Powered by eight massive jet engines this Ekranpolan or screen plane still holds the record for greatest lift for any aircraft We’re talking 1,000 tons 910 metric tons of lift That s the ability to lift 1,000 tons including itself The MD-160 could travel at 300 miles 483 kilometres per hour just 13 feet 4 metres above the water while carrying 1,000 soviet marines Although the Ekranoplan is no longer in service Russia continues to work on new and improved versions of it 11

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