N500 Naviplane
The N500 Naviplane was a French hovercraft built by Société d'Etude et de Développement des Aéroglisseurs Marins (SEDAM) in Pauillac, Gironde for the cross English Channel route. Intended to have a large passenger and crew capacity, it was for a while the largest hovercraft. Only two were built. The first was destroyed by a fire before entering service, the second proved unreliable and was broken up in 1985 at the end of its service.
The N500 arriving at Dover in 1980 | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | N.500 Naviplane |
| Builders | SEDAM/SNCF |
| Operators | Seaspeed, Hoverspeed |
| Preceded by | N.300 Naviplane |
| Built | –1977 |
| In service | 1977–1985 |
| Completed | 2 |
| Scrapped | 2 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Hovercraft |
| Length | 50 m (160 ft) |
| Beam | 23 m (75 ft) |
| Height | 17 m (55 ft 9 in) hovering |
| Installed power | 5 x 2,535 kW (3,400 hp) |
| Propulsion | 5 × Avco-Lycoming TF-40 turboshaft |
| Capacity |
|
| Crew | 15 |
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