MOSCOW — A cargo plane designed to fly just above the ground and capable of carrying up to 500 tons of cargo in a single trip is under development in Russia. <br /> <br />Scientists from Russia’s Central AeroHydrodynamic Institute are currently testing models of the Ground Effect Vehicle (GEV), according to a news release on the institute’s website. <br /> <br />The aircraft would fly over the ground, water or ice in a range of 3 to 12 meters from the surface. <br /> <br />Short, wide wings are designed to trap air between the aircraft and the ground. This creates downdraughts that produce greater lift force and less drag than other fixed wing-aircraft, allowing the plane to carry bigger loads with less fuel. <br /> <br />Russia has a tradition of developing low-flying GEVs, also known as “ekranoplan.” <br /> <br />The Soviet Union built several of these giant low-flying aircraft in the 1970s and 1980s. <br /> <br />Perhaps the best known example was a 544-ton experimental vehicle, which was nicknamed the “Caspian Sea Monster” by Western intelligence and was the largest aircraft in the world when it was built in 1966.
