• 30 Oct 2022 09:38 AM
• 0

Regent Seaglider Takes Off

Regent revealed on Sept. 15 that its electric seaglider demonstrator completed a series of flights in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. According to the company, Regent’s seaglider is the first of its kind to use three modes of maritime operations — floating, hydrofoiling and flying. The seaglider demonstrator is a wing-in-ground effect vehicle with an 18- ft (5.5-m) wingspan. “People have been attempting to make wing-in-ground effect vehicles viable for 60 years, and in 15 months we have gone from a drawing on a napkin to the first successful flight,” said Regent CTO and co-founder Mike Klinker in a statement. In February, Regent announced that it had secured $18M in funding and conditional orders from several regional airlines (see “Electric CTOL/STOL News,” Vertiflite, March/April 2022). The company is aiming to begin testing a full-scale prototype in 2023, with the goal of launching commercial services by 2025, after certification as a maritime vessel by the US Coast Guard.