There are several examples of repulsorlifts in the FFG lines with flight ceilings of 100km+.

Right, but in the case of the X-Wing, there is no evidence that their repulsorlift operates much above six feet off the ground.

Well, it kinda has to have a ceiling of more than six feet. Otherwise you would never be able to fly it in an atmosphere as the X-Wing does not have the aerodynamic surfaces to generate and maintain lift. Same thing with nearly every other ship capable of entering and maneuvering in an atmosphere. There's only so much the main thrusters can do.

Did he crash? Looked more like a hard landing to me. Since Luke wasn't turned into paste on the inside of the canopy, and he walked away from it. The X-wing had no real damage either. Seems to me the repulsors did their job at the last second. He couldn't see and clearly sensors weren't working, but he still managed to not die and not destroy his ship.

Maybe the Alliance hiding inside an ice cave on a glacier can't get the parts they need for 100% mission readiness/availability and things like navigational sensors don't make the 'most important' list for spare parts purchases.

Ahh.. a Technician rolled a Despair...

Well, it kinda has to have a ceiling of more than six feet.

Not much.

Otherwise you would never be able to fly it in an atmosphere as the X-Wing does not have the aerodynamic surfaces to generate and maintain lift.

Old military friends of mine used to say that with enough thrust you can make anything fly. So long as the thrust to weight ratio is greater than 1.0, and even if the wings aren't ideally aerodynamic and they’re just a flat board, if you angle them upwards a little, that should be enough.

And we don’t know enough about how the wings of an X-Wing actually work in atmosphere. Maybe they generate a small forcefield around them to create the smooth aerodynamic surface you’re looking for, and when they are operating outside of an atmosphere they turn off those miniature forcefield generators.

Same thing with nearly every other ship capable of entering and maneuvering in an atmosphere. There's only so much the main thrusters can do.

There has to be a significant aerodynamic benefit to their shape, otherwise everybody would be flying around in anti-grav Borg Cubes and be done with it.

In the promo video for The Force Awakens, you see significant aerodynamic effects underneath the X-Wings that are flying near the surface of the lake. There’s no indication there that any of that is happening because of repulsorlift operations.

Unless someone has strong evidence to the contrary, it seems obvious to me that the X-Wings operate in VTOL mode only very near the ground or other sources of gravity (like a hangar on a much bigger ship), and beyond that they operate almost exclusively on the basis of their primary thrusters or hyperdrive.

But I’ve got some books around that detail a lot of the technology of Star Wars, and I’ll see if I can find a more definitive answer for you.

They may not be considered Canon anymore, but they’re likely to be at least reasonably well thought out.

Ahh.. a Technician rolled a Despair...

Nah, just a bit of threat on his Piloting Planetary to land the craft. I mean, it was largely undamaged, and both Luke and R2-D2 got away unharmed.

There are several examples of repulsorlifts in the FFG lines with flight ceilings of 100km+.

Right, but in the case of the X-Wing, there is no evidence that their repulsorlift operates much above six feet off the ground.

Well, it kinda has to have a ceiling of more than six feet. Otherwise you would never be able to fly it in an atmosphere as the X-Wing does not have the aerodynamic surfaces to generate and maintain lift. Same thing with nearly every other ship capable of entering and maneuvering in an atmosphere. There's only so much the main thrusters can do.

Maybe a starfighter shapes its deflector shields into an airfoil configuration to provide lift in atmospheric conditions.

Had I been Yoda, I'd have dumped the X-Wing right back in the swamp after making my point about being able to lift it out.

Had I been Yoda, I'd have dumped the X-Wing right back in the swamp after making my point about being able to lift it out.

Luke needed to have a way to get going once his training was done and continued time in the swamp would just kill the ship, stranding him there. Plus it wouldn't have allowed him the Choice, which is important, about staying or leaving at the critical juncture. Avatar: The Last Airbender did a similar thing right at the end of Book 2 with Aang, his Avatar training and Kitara being in danger...

There are several examples of repulsorlifts in the FFG lines with flight ceilings of 100km+.

Right, but in the case of the X-Wing, there is no evidence that their repulsorlift operates much above six feet off the ground.

Well, it kinda has to have a ceiling of more than six feet. Otherwise you would never be able to fly it in an atmosphere as the X-Wing does not have the aerodynamic surfaces to generate and maintain lift. Same thing with nearly every other ship capable of entering and maneuvering in an atmosphere. There's only so much the main thrusters can do.

IIRC, WEG put landspeeders at a limit down just a few meters off the ground (things like Luke's speeder in Ep IV), while Airspeeders had a ceiling of around 250m and anything that could fly higher, like cloud cars and such used the fact that they had more powerful engines to throw them through the air, or use body lifting effects as part of their flying performance.

Well, it kinda has to have a ceiling of more than six feet.

Not much.

Otherwise you would never be able to fly it in an atmosphere as the X-Wing does not have the aerodynamic surfaces to generate and maintain lift.

Old military friends of mine used to say that with enough thrust you can make anything fly. So long as the thrust to weight ratio is greater than 1.0, and even if the wings aren't ideally aerodynamic and they’re just a flat board, if you angle them upwards a little, that should be enough.

And we don’t know enough about how the wings of an X-Wing actually work in atmosphere. Maybe they generate a small forcefield around them to create the smooth aerodynamic surface you’re looking for, and when they are operating outside of an atmosphere they turn off those miniature forcefield generators.

Same thing with nearly every other ship capable of entering and maneuvering in an atmosphere. There's only so much the main thrusters can do.

There has to be a significant aerodynamic benefit to their shape, otherwise everybody would be flying around in anti-grav Borg Cubes and be done with it.

In the promo video for The Force Awakens, you see significant aerodynamic effects underneath the X-Wings that are flying near the surface of the lake. There’s no indication there that any of that is happening because of repulsorlift operations.

Unless someone has strong evidence to the contrary, it seems obvious to me that the X-Wings operate in VTOL mode only very near the ground or other sources of gravity (like a hangar on a much bigger ship), and beyond that they operate almost exclusively on the basis of their primary thrusters or hyperdrive.

But I’ve got some books around that detail a lot of the technology of Star Wars, and I’ll see if I can find a more definitive answer for you.

They may not be considered Canon anymore, but they’re likely to be at least reasonably well thought out.

Actually what you see could be explained simply by A) Speed of the X-wings and B) the air just being forced out of the way, creating the push on the water as something has to give to let the X-wing move forward. Yes, it could also be created by the repulsorlift engines pushing down against the water because they are traveling low enough for both the repulsorlifts and general "ground effect" to trigger.

maybe thats a clue to one of the biggest secrets of star wars. he tried to park in backwise and crashed. and in episode 7, he reveals to his son in an epic showdown " Luke the Second, I am your MOTHER!"

The amount of lift force being generated as they fly level across the water is equal to their weight. <-- aero-performance humor

Luke is also dumb because he did not use repulsors to lift the ship out of the water and move it to a better spot. Padawan idiot.

Luke is also dumb because he did not use repulsors to lift the ship out of the water and move it to a better spot. Padawan idiot.

We don't know that. We know he hit, had time to get out and unload it and it seemed stable that whole time. Only later did it sink.

Typical fallacy of watching movies... assuming that what happens in the movie occurs in real-time to us. So, we don't know what all he tried between landing and setting up camp.