Electric and Hydrogen Vehicles

[Rupert]

Which brings up a point, shouldn’t we have similar handling problems with grav in weather that we do with LTA craft?

No, because the contra-grav negates weight, but not mass, so the vehicle 'floats' but still has its full inertia. Depending on how well streamlined it is, and what aerodynamic control surfaces it has, it might experience 'weather vane' effects, and it will get pushed by the wind, but not nearly to the degree than a LTA craft does.

If the grav vehicle has some way on (i.e. it's moving under its own power) it shouldn't be concerned about most winds, except possibly when landing or taking off (like a heavier-than-air aircraft).

 

[Spinward Flow]

Which brings up a point, shouldn’t we have similar handling problems with grav in weather that we do with LTA craft?

The LBB3 Air/raft does, to some extent.

SLOW grav craft, such as the aforementioned air/raft, are subject to "fair weather flying" and wind buffeting constraints. The air/raft isn't meant to fly that fast, so it's "pushed around by wind effects" to a noticeable extent. By contrast the (6 ton, MCr1, TL=8) Speeder which can fly transonic and reach orbit in 1 hour (instead of UWP Size code in hours!) has a lot more grav power at its disposal for speed and maneuverability (rather than lift power) in addition to being a streamlined vehicle, so it has "excess grav thrust" to easily counter most wind conditions.

So the answer to the point brought up by @kilemall is a legitimate one, but it also falls into the bucket of "with enough thrust even a brick can fly" ... and not all grav vehicles are designed with "lots of horizontal thrust" built into them. The ubiquitous air/raft has good vertical thrust (vehicle plus 4 tons), but poor horizontal thrust/speed ratings ... so it's more of a "flying truck" than an all rounder type of vehicle and thus skews more towards short haul cargo lifting. By contrast the speeder is a fast passenger transport with minimal cargo capacity (driver, 1 passenger, 100kg of cargo) that can zip around at transonic speeds.

LBB3.81, p23 for details of both vehicles.

An air/raft can cruise at 100 kph (but is extremely subject to wind effects), with some capability of higher speed to about 120 kph.

A streamlined grav-powered craft intended for high speed transport between points on a world surface. Similar in principle to the air/raft and the GCarrier, the speeder is streamlined and concentrates on speed.