HIGH-flying Kidderminster student, Will Jarman, could revolutionise air travel with his low-flying plane.

The 23-year-old is ready for take-off on a career in aviation as his design makes heads turn at Coventry University's Design Degree Show this week. His innovative idea combines old Russian military technology with the flight paths of seabirds and it has helped win him a job with Air Atlantique/The Atlantic Group at Coventry Airport.

"I had the idea from the way seagulls and other birds fly low across the sea and rest their wings," said Mr Jarman, of Sanderling Court, Spennells.

"It is also based on watching documentaries of old Russian military technology, which was largely forgotten after the end of the USSR.

"It's also more efficient as an aircraft uses a third less fuel by flying low," he added.

He hoped his Transatlantic Ekranoplan would also fill a gap for tourists as its low flight path would allow for bigger windows and a chance to watch the scenery passing below.

It would also make use of smaller coastal airfields and he has visited a disused RAF base in North Wales to check out support for his idea.

"I see it as a cross between a cruise ship and an aircraft," said Mr Jarman, a long-time member of two model aircraft clubs in the Kidderminster area. "I would hope long haul tourists could use it."

Now he is looking forward to checking in for his new job next week, when his four-year transport design degree course ends and also hoping to get the wind beneath his wings with some freelance design.