This paper was presented at the Twenty-first Annual National Conference of the Society of Aeronautical Weight Engineers at Seattle, Washington, May 14-17, 1962. This paper examines interrelations between aerodynamic performance and weight aspects of a transport type GETOL (Ground Effect Take Off and Landing) aircraft of the 40,000 pound class. The relative productivity (payload x cruise speed/weight empty), and ton miles of payload per unit of fuel is compared with similar figures for jet, turbo-prop, helicopter, and tilt wing VTOL aircraft of the 30,000 to 50,000 pound class.
Three different configurations of the GETOL were studied to obtain the best comparative trends. Concurrent studies were made of various “trade offs” which would effect performance and weight.
The results are given in a graphical form. Although they should be considered of preliminary nature, nevertheless they seem to indicate that the GETOL concept represents interesting possibilities for transports of the 40,000 pound gross weight class. In particular, low aspect ratio wing aircraft appear to be the most promising for ranges from 200 to 800 miles.