Link To LNG Tanker Variant!

Important! Scale to 10x size before using!

The seas were rough, the skies ominous. Possibly the only exciting thing happening today, though admittedly it wasn't exactly enjoyable.

"Oi, get those smaller ships tied down, can't risk losing another one. And be sure to double check those containers, last time they were measured improperly and we lost some time having to redo everything, yea?"

"Yeah, yeah! I'm on it, just gotta finish scanning this document, I'll be right over."

The usual labors and ship husbandry were mundane, but atleast things were usually consistent. Albeit somewhat dangerous, but atleast the pay is good. On the most exciting days, we got naval vessels, cargo ships, and one time an aircraft carrier passed through, though it wasn't exactly in need of maintenance. On most days however, just small vessels and fishing boats, maybe some rich asshole's super-yacht that would take up our entire loading dock and inconvenience everyone.

"Say Ron, you ever plan on getting out of this dump?"

"Eh, don't know. Don't really care to be honest. Not much else I'm good at, not many ambitions to chase."

"Fair enough I guess."

Seagulls chortled overhead, crashing waves roughed against the concrete. The hydraulic sound of a hangar bay door opening, followed by heavy machinery sirens. Fellow ground crew chatting and laughing on the job, a forklift hurriedly rushing with a stack of pallets. All pretty normal sounds for a normal workday at the docks, you get used to the hustle and bustle after a few days.

Today, we heard a new sound. One we won't forget for a while.

Laser-cleaning the rust from a corrugated metal plate, the sound of jet engines slowly creeped its way on over to our worksite. Usually not anything worth reporting or even looking up to the skies for, though this time it grew louder than usual, sounded lower than usual. Much louder and grainier than usual, actually. As though a commercial airliner was making a low altitude pass, but that couldn't be, right?

Looking around for a source, I noticed I wasn't the only one. Atleast a dozen of us were all turning heads, craning and peering around for what and where the sound could be. Eventually the sound got loud enough to tell where it was coming from, it sounded like a low flying jet about to make a high speed pass, parallel to us. It didn't sound like a small, high speed naval jet, it sounded huge, definitely high bypass turbofans. But commercial jets don't fly this low, neither do large military jets like the C5 or KC-135, save for airshows.

"You hear that?? The hell-"

Seagulls scattered, the sky roared, the sound of a rumbling beast dominating the senses. A dark behemoth parted the low hanging fog like Moses to the sea, and with it came a petrifying howl, its dark streamlined belly and enormous crimson wings casting an ominous shadow over the churning ocean. Its massive stature dwarfed everything in sight, it was like a container ship took flight. Towering horns gutted the clouds, its glowing eyes pierced your soul. Like a graceful yet powerful kaiju, it skimmed high above the violent waves, leaving a torrent of whitewater in its wake.

As fast as it had arrived, it made its departure. A rush of wind and distant groaning jets were all that alluded to its passing, the dark and ghostly phantom retreating to the fog, its enormous silhouette cloaked in low hanging clouds.

For a minute, everyone was silent. Even the seagulls.

Some were overjoyed, others were horrified. They would all have quite the story to tell back home, though.

---

The NCE and LNG "Phantom" is an ultra-massive heavy cargo Ekranoplan, designed to carry container ships' worth of cargo across the open seas at high speed. Small to medium sized Ekranoplans suffer from heavy seas and rough waters, being particularly vulnerable to wave battering and unstable surface conditions, preventing them from developing a proper ground effect. The solution? Construct an Ekranoplan large enough that the rough seas cannot affect it, as the ground effect bubble increases in size as the Ekranoplan gets larger. Ekranoplans are unique, in that they're one of the only machines that are fully scalable and function as they should regardless of their size, assuming all power to weight ratios stay the same.

The Phantom can carry cargo across the sea at much higher speeds than any container ship, with far higher fuel efficiency. Though measuring in at nearly half a mile long, its enormous size permits it to dock and unload at only the largest of stations. Thankfully, with folding wings and a dedicated crane system, the Phantom can get surprisingly intimate with ground crew and docking automation. Additionally, the Phantom can be outfitted with different loadouts for various cargo types, including Shipping Containers, and LNG Tanks.

---

Controls and Flight Procedure:

AG-1 through AG-4 initialize engine startup sequence.
AG-5 extends Air Brakes, ideal for slowing down while airborne.
AG-6 provides interior air conditioning.
AG-7 activates and deactivates Navigation Lights.
AG-8 activates and deactivates Caution Strobes.

"Landing Gear" illuminates interior lighting.

Brakes fire up Reverse Thrust hydrogen rockets, ideal for slowing down or reversing while cruising on the water's surface.

AG1 through AG4 + Throttle engages eight gigantic High-Bypass Nuclear-Turbofan Engines, all powered by a 10 Gigawatt Fusion Reactor, providing each engine with over 15,000,000lbs of thrust each.

Pitch controls elevators, providing assistance in takeoff before the ground effect kicks in.

Roll controls left and right steering, actuated by a singular gigantic yaw surface at the tail of the Ekranoplan.

Yaw controls left and right strafing, high powered water jets allow the craft to strafe left and right while stationary, ideal for docking with stations and ports.

VTOL Up actuates wing folding, allowing the craft to really snuggle up against the unloading deck. VTOL Down does absolutely nothing.

Trim adjusts seating position in the cockpit, allowing the captain to more effectively view to the left and right, along with accessing more controls at the panels that may be out of reach at center console.

Proper Flight Procedure:

To take off, AG-1 through AG-4, and throttle to 100%. The Ekranoplan will accelerate, additional pitch may be necessary to take off. Once the altimeter reaches 100ft, the Ekranoplan will lurch off the water's surface and rapidly gain altitude; the crafts gargantuan sized wings and tremendously powerful engines can provide more than enough lift to unintentionally escape the ground effect, so utmost caution must be taken into consideration while accelerating.

Once the Ekranoplan leaves the water's surface tension, reduce throttle to 65 ~ 70%. The Ekranoplan will lose altitude, but the ground effect will be regained. Throttle up or down in accordance with your altitude, keep your altitude ideally within 340 ~ 360ft. Worth noting, altitude is measured from the leading edge of the wings, as opposed to the underbelly of the fuselage, as this makes it easier to measure ground effect on the Ekranoplan.

The Ekranoplan will operate most efficiently at 70 ~ 80% throttle, around ~320mph.

To land the Phantom, simply engage Air Brakes, and throttle down to ~50%, and the Ekranoplan will lower itself into the water over time. The Phantom, despite its massive size, can take a very rough landing if necessary, as its hull is designed to withstand the extreme waves of rough open seas. Once seabound, the hydrogen rockets at the back of the vessel are ideal for slowing down completely. These rockets utilize a liquid oxygen & hydrogen fuel to maximize power, thrust authority, and environmental friendliness. The primary nuclear turbofan engines utilize a similar hydrogen based jet fuel, optimized for their high bypass design unlike the rocket engines.

ALL controls are FULLY FUNCTIONAL in VR!!

Notes:

Since SimplePlanes does not accurately simulate the ground effect outside of helicopter rotors, some Funky Trees magic is used to simulate a ground effect for this Ekranoplan. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, you really just have to be careful with the throttle otherwise you might launch yourself a thousand ft in the air and that's generally Not Normal™️ as far as Ekranoplans go, even for one this hellaciously gargantuan.

Sometimes when spawning in, the crane breaks instantly. I don't know why, but it does, if you don't care about it that's fine, it does not function nor does it change any performance on the craft. If you want it there, just restart until it stays on.

I say again!! Please scale this Ekranoplan up by 10x in size before using it!! I've uploaded it smaller to be easier to inspect and edit, but it should be used at 10x the size it's at now.

In the thumbnail, you may notice the Ekranoplan is different from the one you receive when downloading. That is the LNG Tanker variant of the Phantom, available in the link at the top of the description. Much less parts, much easier to run, visually more appealing if you ask me. Controls are exactly the same.

There are many camera positions located at points of interest around the externals of the Ekranoplan, and inside the cockpit and cabin.

On the control panel, there are buttons for different comm frequencies, all of which can be pressed. They don't actually do anything, but some of them do have funny labels.

Image Gallery:

I apologize greatly, for the fact that this creation was meant to be uploaded nearly a year ago, I had forgotten about it for the longest time until I happened to be browsing my YouTube videos, and saw the trailer I made for this Ekranoplan. I realized at that moment I had not actually posted it yet. So again, I apologize to all who requested to be tagged in this post, and any other viewers who saw the trailer and thought "ooh neat, can't wait to see that posted in a couple days :D"

I have a whole backlog of things I need to upload tbh, just stuff I've posted unlisted for the sake of archival. Maybe a few new posts here and there to expect!

Anywho, this creation just about summarizes how unorganized and dysfunctional my brain is at the current moment, but oh whatever that's just fine. I'm not suffering per se, from any mental illnesses. I quite enjoy them, in fact!

Have Fun, and until next post!

Oh, and there definitely isn't an Amogus painted on the shipping containers.