A ground effect vehicle (GEV) is one that attains level flight near the surface of the Earth, making use of the aerodynamic interaction between the wings and the surface known as ground effect. Also known as a wing-in-ground-effect (WIG) vehicle , flarecraft, sea skimmer, ekranoplan , Skim Machine, or wing-in-surface-effect ship (WISE), a GEV is sometimes characterized as a transition between a hovercraft and an aircraft, although this is not technically correct, since whereas a hovercraft is supported upon a cushion of pressurized air, the principal effect of the proximity of the ground to a lifting wing is not to increase its lift but to reduce its lift-dependent drag. 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. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has classified the GEV as a ship.[1] 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.
These are the picture of WIG craft in main operational mode.
A SEA PLANE is a fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and water landing (alighting) on water. Seaplanes which can also take-off and land on airfields are a small subclass called amphibian aircraft. Seaplanes and amphibians are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteristics: floatplanes and flying boats, which are generally far larger and can carry far more. These aircraft were sometimes called hydroplanes.
