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N500 Naviplane

Commercial transport hovercraft

Field	Value
section1	{{Infobox ship/image
image	N500 hovercraft arriving at Dover.jpg
image_caption	The N500 arriving at Dover in 1980
section2	{{Infobox ship/class overview
name	N.500 Naviplane
builders	SEDAM/SNCF
operators	Seaspeed, Hoverspeed
class_before	N.300 Naviplane
built_range	–1977
in_service_range	1977–1985
total_ships_completed	2
total_ships_scrapped	2
section3	{{Infobox ship/characteristics
type	Hovercraft
length	50 m
beam	23 m
height	17 m (55 ft 9 in) hovering
power	5 x 2,535 kW (3,400 hp)
propulsion	5 × Avco-Lycoming TF40 gas turbines
capacity	*385 passengers
crew	15

45 cars The N500 Naviplane was a French hovercraft built by Société d'Etude et de Développement des Aéroglisseurs Marins (SEDAM) in Pauillac, Gironde for the cross English Channel route. Intended to have a large passenger and crew capacity, as prototypes they were for a short while the largest hovercraft. Only two were built. The first was destroyed by a fire before entering service, the second proved unreliable and was broken up in 1985 at the end of its service.

History

N500-01 - Côte d'Argent registered LV 365.832 port of Le Verdon, on the Gironde estuary.First flight on 19 April 1977 on the Gironde, demonstrating a speed of 40-45 knots (74–83 km/h). She was destroyed by a fire at her construction site on 3 May 1977.

N500-02 - Ingénieur Jean Bertin registered BL 341.931 at port of Boulogne-Sur-Mer was built for Seaspeed by SNCF in 1977. It showed poor engine and hydraulic system reliability/ It had difficulty climbing the ramp to the Dover hoverpad during bad weather.

Transferred to Hoverspeed in 1983 after a number of modifications but was returned to SNCF later that year after Hoverspeed decided she was not suitable for their services due to poor reliability. Broken up in 1985 at the Boulogne Hoverport.

The N500 was one of the world's largest hovercraft; it could transport 385 passengers plus 45 cars. It was also one of the fastest and reached a speed record for a travel from Boulogne to Dover at an average speed of 74 knots (137 km/h).

The mass of the N500 was 260 tons, it was 50 m long and 23 m wide.

Crew

1 pilot. 1 co-pilot. Seated side by side in the cockpit. 1 radar-navigator seated at the rear part of the cockpit.

6 to 8 stewardess.

6 stower-men for the cars.

Flight control

Flight yokes controlled the horizontal tail wing (elevator), propeller pitch and the thrust power of the 3 propulsion gas turbines

Rudder pedals controlled the two aerial rudders.

Two thrust levers controlled power of the two lifting gas turbines.

Obturation flaps system between the air cushion chamber and the skirts provided additional longitudinal and lateral control.

Later modifications (1983) included:

A third rudder on the middle engine pylon.
Four air vent system providing additional lateral control at low speed.

Specifications (N500)

|prime units?=met General characteristics

45 cars 86.364 t payload |max takeoff weight kg=

Oil capacity: 500 L Powerplant --
Max continuous RPM: 14,500
Fuel consumption: 247 Imp gal/engine/hour, fuel type: Kerosene JP4/TR4.
Propeller speed: 640 rpm Performance -- |never exceed speed kts=78
Operational Limits (Sea state): 1 - 1.5 m
Operational Limits (Wind): 6 (Beaufort Scale)

References

Rowson, James. (September 13, 2014). "SEDAM N500 Naviplane".
[http://www.ratier-figeac.com/corp/details/0,10294,CLI3_DIV116_ETI7935,00.html Ratier-Figeac Propeller manufacturers]

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

hovercraft 1977-ships

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