Conventionally skirted Air Cushion Craft (ACCs), such as hovercraft, employ physical air curtain walls to contain the cushion on which they ride.  This skirt requires frequent maintenance and repair, as it remains in contact constantly with the traversed surface.  For this reason also, terrain severity limits hovercraft mobility.

BAP Air Curtain Configuration

Unique in the field of ACC technology, this design provides the following four essential features, while permitting surface travel independent of surface conditions and terrain.

1. Standoff height (ground clearance):  Relative to a given vehicle’s diameter, the BAP size determines a HybriCraft’s operating ground clearance.  The operator may determine the height most suitable for a given mission or set of conditions, approaching a height equal to the vehicle’s radius.  For example, a twelve-foot HybriCraft would operate commonly on its cushion about six feet high.

2. Inherent static and dynamic pitch and roll stability:  HybriCraft recover from disturbances such as wind gusts in one and one-half cycles.

3. Ease of control:  HybriCraft employ a variety of simple, conventional control systems including spoilers, thrust reversers, elevators, and ailerons.  Operator controls are similarly conventional, akin to a car, recreational vehicle, or airplane.

4. Conventional power plants and standard fuels:  HybriCraft are adaptable to a variety of fuels, including automotive and aviation grades, providing reasonable installed horsepower appropriate to the particular application through use of Off-The-Shelf (OTS) engines.

HybriCraft technology supports a family of vehicles capable of satisfying diverse needs and applications.  Independent sources in private industry and university technical scholars qualified to assess the validity of HybriCraft have endorsed this technology repeatedly over the past three decades.

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Air Cushion Support v. Helicopter-Type Thrust

Helicopter downwash produces considerable environmental disturbance, particularly to the surface immediately beneath such a vehicle, especially when operating near the ground.

The HybriCraft air cushion support system behaves like a giant balloon tire.  This cross-section illustrates how air pressure supporting the vehicle replaces the helicopter-like thrust that supports a helicopter, reducing surface disturbance.

The HybriCraft operating regime extends to complement areas of the helicopter’s operational envelope where either: 1) maximum adverse environmental impact occurs, or 2) the hazards of operating within the “dead man’s curve” are manifest.  Understanding this allays the perception that HybriCraft technology somehow replaces helicopters.  The helicopter is well suited within its design envelope for myriad operational tasks, and exhibits opportunities for addressing issues in the near-ground areas of its flight envelope. At the surface, and within the surface-dependent (or ground-effect) environment, HybriCraft exceed the total system efficiency of other transportation vehicles, favorably overlapping some rotorcraft capabilities.  Comparing features of helicopters and HybriCraft demonstrates clearly the similarities among operational capacity, and some obvious differences in operational consequence.  On a total system basis, within the specified performance envelope, HybriCraft operate more safely, at a lower cost, with fewer maintenance hours, require less training, involve less operator skill, and extend mobility, because HybriCraft operate comfortably over varied terrain types and profiles, in a stable and easily controlled manner. back to top