Jetfoils ready to boom in 1980s?

Press, 25 January 1979, Page 2

Jetfoils ready to boom in 1980s?

Jetfoils of the type pro-i posed for Cook Strait are' expected to develop into a $3 billion market for the Boeing Company by 1987 says Les Bloxham,| “The Press” travel editor. Boeing, which has spent l several million dollars per- i fecting the craft for large-1 scale commercial use overthe last 20 years, sold its! first models to ferry com-1 panies in Hong Kong andi Hawaii barely five years: ago. i The company expects to sell 200 in the next eight! years. One of its jetfoils is! shown in the upper picture! making a test run near the' factory at Seattle; the lower' picture shows the aircraft-! type seats in the craft’s | upper lounge. A proposal by Transport: Nelson, Ltd, to provide a jetfoil service across Cook Strait, will be investigated by the Ministry of Trans-! port, according to the company’s managing director (Mr G. Butler) reports the Press Association. Mr Butler and other company officials met the Minis-! ter of Transport and Rail-, ways (Mr McLachlan) at. Parliament Buildings yester-; day to discuss the scheme. Mr McLachlan had "in no, way opposed the scheme,”) said Mr Butler after the meeting. The jetfoil, which has al-1 ready been ordered, would! carry as many as 350 pas-j sengers across the strait in! an hour, and would usually 1 run between Wellington and'

jPicton. However, a service! (between Wellington and Neilson was also possible. Mr Butler said that the service would be nearly con,l tinuous in summer, but sailings would follow a timetable in winter, when demand would probably fall (off. The company hopes to .have one craft running withI in two years, and another lone soon afterwards. Mr Butler said that he beIlieved the planned service would take the Railways’ share of walk-on passengers, at present catered for by the iPicton rail ferries. It would 'not replace the railway! cargo and passenger-accom-panied vehicle transport service. > Fares on the planned jetfoil would probably be competitive with those on the ferries, Mr Butler said. Transport Nelson had not asked for Government finance, nor did it expect to need overseas funding to buy the craft, which are believed to cost at least SIOM. Les Bloxham writes that the jetfoil is a development j of the hydrofoil principle, which makes use of the lifting power of water. Submerged foils, attached to the i.hull by a series of vertical '(struts, lift the craft clear of i'the surface; it meets minimal water resistance. I Propulsion is provided by I two high-powered water jets ! driven by 3780 hp gas turi 'bines. ’I The foils, which can run 11 at full speed through waves

I six metres high, have com-1 I puter-controlled moveable' ! flaps like the ailerons on an aircraft wing tht enable the craft to turn smoothly at speeds of 80km/h. The jetfoil’s interior is ’ similar to a modern large aircraft. Passengers sit in upper and lower lounges and ' hear only the familiar whine of the rear-mounted jet engines. The hydrofiol principle is , not new; it was discovered ■ accidentally in 1861. Thomas Moy, an Englishman, decided , to study the aerodynamics [|of wings by watching the .'swirls they created under . | water. ■ He attached the wings j under his boat and ventured •on to the Surrey Canal, (where to his surprise the ■ hull rose from the water. However, the first efficient hydrofoil was not de (signed until 1898, when an i Italian designer reached a >! speed of 81.5km/h.