JennyB wrote:I see it taking off, but I don't see much evidence that it is able to fly any distance out of ground effect. Well, an electric WIG would be fun, and possibly not not need a great deal of pilot skill, but it would be limited.
My thoughts too. TBH, much as I'd like it not to be, it does seem to be yet another case where artistic design and graphics dominates over common sense and good aerodynamic design. There is a very large mountain of evidence that shows that there are two factors that totally dominate aircraft power requirements, wing loading and low drag. Small wings are hopeless, in fact the worst possible thing you can have when you're pushed for power. The same goes for speed, power is pretty much directly proportional to the cube of airspeed, so small wings = high speed (to get the required lift) = high power. Having an open cockpit, with no attempt to fair in the pilot also increases the power demand pretty dramatically.
As someone who's designed a light aircraft, built and flown a few over the years, and who has a seaplane rating on his licence, I can say with absolute certainty that seaplanes, or just ultralights on floats, need far more power than their equivalent land plane versions, both to get up on the step to take off and to unstick from still water. The latter problem even makes big float planes a struggle at times, there's a technique you use to get the things to unstick by rocking the wings to ease one float of the water, so reducing the drag and allowing you to get the other one off. Ultralights on floats are great fun, probably the most fun you can have with your clothes on, but they are far from being efficient aircraft. On the other hand, slow ultralights on wheels are probably about the lowest powered form of flight (other than PPGs and powered hang gliders) possible.
Please ask questions on the forum, rather than by PM, as it helps others and you'll get a better range of answers.