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"   Some ideas are just too obsession-inducing for their inventors to abandon. German designer Hanno Fischer began chasing the ultimate airplane-boat hybrid design more than 40 years ago\u2014and he&amp;#039;s still at it. PM first caught up with him in July 1989, reporting on the engineer&amp;#039;s new &amp;quot;flarecraft&amp;quot; Airfish II, which relied on ground effect\u2014lift caused by a wing&amp;#039;s compression of air against water\u2014for shallow flight.  The Airfish II was supposed to debut in 1990, with a 20-ft. wingspan and 65-hp engine, and cruising speed of 72 mph. Fischer&amp;#039;s team hoped the vehicle would lead to a new class of craft for everything from commuting to cargo hauling. We&amp;#039;re still waiting, and Fischer is still working\u2014his current prototype is called Airfish VIII.  Meanwhile, PM reports on innovators who are using lightweight carbon fiber to build ground-effect watercraft that are currently for sale. It&amp;#039;s taken a while, but no one claimed the marriage of fish and fowl would be easy. \u2014Emily Masamitsu  RELATED STORIES \u2022   "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/a2552/4246892/>