REGENT Craft of Rhode Island is now testing a prototype of their Viceroy Seaglider, an electric wing-in-ground-effect flying coastal ferry. REGENT is an acronym for Regional Electric Ground Effect Nautical Transport.
The 12-passenger Viceroy Seaglider is 55 feet long with a 65-foot wingspan–making it the largest-ever all-electric flying machine.
The Seaglider is designed to combine the high speed of an aircraft with the convenience of a boat. Departing from a dock, the ferry will float on its hull as a conventional craft. Once in open water, it will lift onto hydrofoils to travel at up to 50 knots. Once at full speed, the 12 electric motors on the Seaglider’s 65-foot-wide wings will generate enough lift across the wing to allow the ferry to take off and fly at about 30 feet (10 meters) above the water at up to 156 knots and a range of 156 nautical miles.
The Seaglider relies on the ground effect, the aerodynamic interaction between a moving wing and the stationary surface below. The ground effect results in a reduction of aerodynamic drag of 40-50%.
REGENT successfully tested a 1/4 scale model in 2022 in Narragansett Bay. It is now completing foil-borne testing on the full-sized prototype and expects to begin the first trial flights off Rhode Island by the end of summer or early fall.
As it works to prove its seaworthiness to the US Coast Guard and other regulators around the world, Regent says that it has lined up $7 billion in future customer orders for commercial ferry routes around Florida, Hawaii, Japan and the Persian Gulf.
Regent is also working with the U.S. Marines to repurpose the same vessels for island-hopping troops in the Pacific. Those vessels would likely trade electric battery power for jet fuel to cover longer journeys.
A manufacturing facility is under construction, with the vessels set to carry passengers by 2027.
Bob had one comment—“Wow! That’s pretty amazing!”