Ekranoplan Soviet Aircraft

My wishlist is the Soviet Ekranoplan.This plane was not really a conventional airplane,only to hover above the sea because it wasnt visible on radar.


it was a ground effect vehicle. The Lun-class was a maritime vessel. It was never really considered an airplane

1 Like

I’m afraid that won’t be something for the official lineup of aircraft as there is basically is no documentation outside of Russia available, scanning the aircraft would not be possible and licenses won’t be offered. Even if I too would love to see that :wink:

We have dirigibles, boats, motorcycles, and cars in this flight sims.
In any case, even within ground effect, they were still flying, untethered to the surface
I’m not sure I’d buy one, but there’s certainly no reason for a dev not to try.

Granted, this is for official integration into the sim. For that we also have fictional dropships or whatever the pelican is, and ornithopters

I’m not saying it shouldn’t be allowed. I don’t think ground effect in the sim is that great. Its a little better experience in helis than fixed wing crafts, but maybe that’s because it’s a little easier to “see” the effects in rotorwings…

Shouldn’t be a problem. There are enough aircraft in the sim already that needed some guesswork due to the fact that they either no longer exist (Do X) and/or noone is left alive who knows what flying them was like (Wright Flyer, Spirit of St. Louis, Do X, Boeing Clipper etc.)
And then there is the Hughes Hercules which probably is closest to the Ekranoplan since it also never left ground effect … :smile:
Of course we wouldn’t get an accurate representation, but a good visual approximation should do it.

It’s a cool feat of engineering but I don’t think it would be much fun to “fly” in the sim even if we’re possible to create a rendition.

That’s not quite correct. For multiple reasons it’s still a problem - the one mostly killing the story is licensing which has to be in place. The Ekranoplan projects are still a kept secret for which nothing would be officially granted.

  1. A flying replica of the Wright Flyer existed, so data from flight characteristics are available Replica of Wright 1905 Aircraft | Glenn Research Center | NASA
  2. Spirit of St. Louis still exists and is documented
  3. Data from the DO X is available and was made accessible by the Dornier family for this specific project
  4. There is no Boeing Clipper released under the Microsoft brand - I specified that I mean especially this. Third party developers can surely build a Ekranoplan, but the official wishlist is meant for official stuff released by Microsoft

Entirely different story as that aircraft is fictional and was released to promote the movie. It was a joint venture between Microsoft and Warner Brothers which are the right owners of the Dune brand and the related artwork.

1 Like

As far as I know developers release unlicenced aircraft all the time and put their own name as manufacturer (Carendo C182RG for example instead of Cessna 182RG). I don’t know how it is with aircraft, but normally there is a limit to how long a product is protected in that regard.

But still no one has flown it in almost 100 years, so basically a flight model that is slightly off couldn’t be noticed by anyone. Same with the Do X. There may be documentation but in the end it’s all academic. A numbers game. Noone will ever know if it really is a remotely accurate representation.

And with something as crazy as the Ekranoplan I guess most people buying it wouldn’t care.

That said: considering the current geopolitical situation I am reasonably sure we won’t see an Ekranoplan or any other Russian aircraft by Microsoft in the foreseeable future.

False: Yogi Bear broke into the spruce goose and effectively stole it from its spot when it was in Long Beach. It traveled an estimated 16,000 miles hitting locations such as the south Pacific and the south pole without refueling.

The team from “Leverage” also stole the Spruce Goose - well they pretended to anyway :wink:
Still don’t believe she’ll actually fly until someone pulls her out of that museum and actually tries again. :smile:

Are you thinking what I’m thinking :smiling_imp:?

But before you answer, I need to go borrow my friends official Ethan Hunt IMF Mission Impossible playset…

1 Like