Please help me figure this out

[TransformerRobot]

It's about this vehicle I sketched, and how it would work as a real vehicle:

 

 

It's supposed to be a convergence between a motorcycle and an airplane.

 

I was thinking that it would utilize the ground effect for most of it's lift, while the rest of the lifting force would come from a small jet engine (Supposed to be able to reach 500 km/h in 0-3 seconds). It already has the control flaps as required of jet planes.

 

It's wingspan is supposed to be somewhere around 12-14 feet.

 

With these statistics in mind, how far above the ground would it get?

[stopandthink]

Don't know but cool idea . Hope someone helps you out

[ewmon]

Flying 500 km/h within ground effect? And 500 km/h in 3 seconds is almost 3 g's!

Please give your loved ones my condolences. Where should I send flowers?

[TransformerRobot]

I was thinking 500 km/h because it's a small craft and might need a lot of power to get off the ground.

 

So how much should I lower the speed by?

[ewmon]

It's not easy to determine. There's the wing's area to consider. Have you searched for other ground effect vehicles?

[Externet]

At such speed, flying just above ground, better buy the casket pre-flight. A tenth of a degree change in altitude control will fill the casket, but in pieces...

 

Get something safer; kit or built :

Drool here -----> http://www.hovercraft.com/content/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2

-----> http://www.hovercraft.com/content/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=53

Edited June 28, 2013 by Externet

[TransformerRobot]

Would it be okay to do a design like that, but make the wings shaped more like this?

 

I'd rather not use a design that looks like a bulky seagull. We wouldn't be able to race those together.

[Externet]

Yes, those could work. But proper performance is designed first, not stylish appearance and looks. Did you omit landing gear in your sketch because of looks too, or belly landing is the plan ?

[Enthalpy]

I have absolutely nothing against 3g acceleration (starting from an airplane carrier is similar) nor 500km/h by ground effect (the Soviet Ekranoplane did it over water). Pitch stability is passive, with a front and an aft wings.

 

3g is out of proportion with 500kh/h. Aeroplanes reaching Mach 2 accelerate at 1g+.

 

What I doubt is how it shall turn. Ground effect wings must keep near the ground, and then you can't roll the bike to turn. It would take big vertical surfaces to turn, but check the minimum radius for, say, 3g at 500km/h: impossible in a street for instance.

 

To determine a wing size, take a known Ekranoplane

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekranoplane

and scale the area as the mass divided by the square of the speed.

 

Wings for subsonic flight, and especially for ground effect, are straight.

[TransformerRobot]

I omitted landing gear by mistake, sorry.

 

What if I took the basic hover wing design, shortened the wing span a bit, and made the engine more powerful?

[Externet]

Yes, you could start there and later play with thrust and wings.