[wthalheimer]

Seaglider entry to service is slated for mid-decade so you're spot on, all these are pre-launch sales.

We're one of the few companies in the space with firm, nonrefundable deposits and contractually obligated pre-delivery payments (that scale with milestones as you mentioned) on the full first year of these orders.

We take off at the periphery of harbors and fly over the open water in-between. Seagliders have 5ft wave tolerance on takeoff and landing, and 5 ft waves in a harbor is basically a hurricane. Flyover wave tolerance is more like 8-13ft, since any higher than that is likely the result of conditions where commercial aircraft arent flying anyways. We definitely designed the vehicle with wave tolerance in mind.

And all your routes are spot on! It's super exciting. 180 mile range with existing battery tech - and as batteries advance through the decade, we forecast that range growing to 500 miles. 40% of the world's population lives in coastal communities... this is a massive market!

[jameshart]

> Seagliders have 5ft wave tolerance on takeoff and landing

But do sea glider passengers have a 5ft wave tolerance? That sounds like a wild ride.

But this is exciting... as someone who remembers taking the Hoverspeed SR.N4 from Dover to Calais, I know fast coastal transport innovation can be a game changer.

[ggm]

I also did the SRN 4 as a passenger and subsequently "cabbed" the flight deck when it wound up in a museum. Grandad of an offspring's schoolchum took us round the collection out of hours.

He used to fly them (and emphatically said they were flown and he was captain and captain-pilot. There was a turf war between the civil aviation authority and the maritime regulator over who had primacy, depending on if the skirt was lifting or it was floating on the sea) and wound up both volunteering at the museum, and driving end of life (normal) boats up onto cox's harbour mudflats for manual wrecking: a heartbreaking job for a seafaring man.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/gx6a7UPQX4CLfz7Q9 (scans from photos)

From memory, the hover was fast but very very bumpy. Sometimes they suggested timid people use a boat. It was aircraft style seating, not like a ship at all. And very noisy.

[cjrp]

Taking the Hoverspeed is the only time I remember being sea-sick, and it wasn't even a particularly rough day.

[tgtweak]

If you look at the distance between the hydrofoil and the hull midsection, it looks to be about 5ft or so. I would suspect that up to 5ft of wave has very little affect on the ride smoothness.

[maxcan]

This is the answer.

[trillic]

Depends on the period. 5 ft waves in the middle of the pacific ocean is different than an east wind off Milwaukee.

[nradov]

Wave heights in the 8-13ft range are common along the US west coast (Northeast Pacific Ocean) and that doesn't shut down commercial aviation at coastal airports.

https://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=46042

But still there are many more protected waters where a WIG vehicle could be viable.

[wthalheimer]

The specific tolerance within that 8-13ft range is driven by wave period. Long period waves lets us operate more towards that 13ft end because you can contour the waves.

[wolfram74]

Do you have plans for a larger next gen model? It would have even more clearance if it had a corresponding increase in wingspan, right?

[maxcan]

I believe that max demonstrated wave height will have more to do with the height of the hydrofoil than the wingspan / ground effect distance.

Having said that, I'm pretty sure the much larger Monarch (their further future 50-100pax model) will probably have longer vertical supports on the foils.

[nradov]

Sure, that makes sense. The large swells in that region tend to be long period. Contouring the swells up and down is going to make some passengers motion sick, but probably not as bad as a regular ferry in the same conditions.

[wthalheimer]

Ah I see the confusion - that overflight wave tolerance is defined by an emergency landing condition. In the extremely low probability chance that the seaglider needs to perform an emergency landing, the passengers need to be safe. That defines the 8-13ft window.

In no cases are we contouring waves in flight. We fly straight and level. Typical flight altitudes are 10-30ft above the wave peaks. The waves are well below us.

[diggernet]

Having recently spent time watching many whales breaching well into your airspace, I wonder if you have any thoughts on avoiding right-of-way disputes with charismatic megafauna?

[dragonwriter]

It seems intuitively like there would be potential for inland use along navigable waterways as well as coastal use-

[manarth]

Inland waterways often have very low speed limits (e.g. 5 knots). Typically to reduce the impact/erosion of the wash/wake of a vessel.

I could see potential in large inland such as the Great Lakes though.

[simonw]

Sold any for the San Francisco Bay Area yet? Half Moon Bay would definitely benefit from hosting some of these.

[mertd]

Where would you go from HMB on one of these? It's not like they would let it rip at 180mph under the Golden Gate Bridge.

[sgtnoodle]

Santa Cruz maybe? Monterey?

[AYBABTME]

HMB has some tricky shoals/rocks near its entrance.