Heading from Rhode Island to New York City? The train ride takes three hours. The traffic-clogged freeways take even longer. What if you could soar across the Rhode Island Sound like a pelican?

Regent Craft’s Paladin seaglider might make that possible. Someday, this passenger ferry could even aid the military.

Paladin looks nothing like other boats on the sound. Some wonder if “boat” is even the right term for this craft. It has an airplane-like nose and 12 propellers. It sports wings that span 65 feet. Also, it flies. Probably.

Testing on the craft began this past summer over Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay. Paladin has three modes: float, foil, and fly.

It starts in “float” mode, moving like a motorboat. Then it enters “foil” mode. It rises on hydrofoils to about a person’s height above the water. Hydrofoil technology also powers the boats in the America’s Cup sailing race. You might even see folks riding hydrofoil surfboards at the beach. In this mode, Paladin can sail over 50 miles per hour.

Then comes “flight” mode. Regent has yet to test this final mode. If it works, Paladin will soar 30 feet above the water. It could fly up to 180 miles per hour. 

Remember that three-hour train ride to NYC? In flight mode, Paladin could make the trip in an hour.

This vessel could also serve military purposes. It can fly below radar and above sonar detection. That makes it “really hard to see,” says Tom Huntley, head of Regent’s government relations and defense division.

Will ferries soon be flying over seas and sounds? That’s up to the U.S. Coast Guard and other regulators.

God gives people the amazing creativity to come up with new forms of travel. His creations—like pelicans—inspire them.

Why? God’s designs for creation continue to give people ideas for new, helpful technologies.