The Development and Flight Testing of the XC-8A Air Cushion Landing System (ACLS)

The Air Cushion Landing System is based on the ground effect principle which employs a stratum of air instead of wheels as the aircraft ground contacting medium. The concept has experienced an evolutionary process from Air Cushion Vehicles (ACVs) to an air cushion equipped, 41 000 lb (18 589 KG) Buffalo aircraft, designated the XC-8A. The XC-8A has demonstrated the ability to operate from a variety of landing surfaces and across many types of obstacles. This paper summarizes the XC-8A development and preliminary flight test results.