LANDING ON AIR

The Air Cushion Landing System (ACLS) is based on the ground effect principle in which a stratum of air, instead of wheels, is used as the aircraft ground contacting medium. The ACLS employs a large expandable tube which encircles the bottom of the fuselage providing both an air duct and seal for the air cushion. The bottom of the tube (trunk) contains more than 6700 nozzle holes through which low pressure air passes into the air cushion cavity. The air source for the system is an onboard auxiliary turbine driven fan supplying a low pressure (about 1 psig) within the cushion cavity which produces a force equal to the vehicle's weight.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/2240909
• Corporate Authors:

  Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)

  400 Commonwealth Drive
  Warrendale, PA  United States  15096
• Publication Date: 1977-1

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 30-32
• Serial:
  • Automotive Engineering
  • Volume: 85
  • Issue Number: 1
  • Publisher: Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)
  • ISSN: 0098-2571

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aerodynamics; Air cushion vehicles; Design; Fuselages; Ground effect; Landing gear; Turbines
• Old TRIS Terms: Air cushion landing system; Aircraft landing gear
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Design; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00172784
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Engineering Index
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 28 1978 12:00AM