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Latest Toy: One-Man Helicopter
treble writes, "Of course the military has had these playthings for ages, but The New York Times is running an AP story about a Japanese 'Compact Copter' for general consumption. It's become my newest wish-I-could-afford-it toy. The coolest things of note: No license required in the U.S., and top speed of 60 mph. Imagine a swarm of these things rising in the air for rush hour commute." All I can say is that the traffic jams would be ... interesting.
humm...
non-pitchable blades (no autorotations)
ultralight catagory (no flight over populated ares)
engines designed for RCs (engine failure RSN)
...yeah, that's the kind of thing I'd strap my ass in to fly to work.
(just because you think your smart doesn't mean you're not really stupid in the grand scheme of things)
Is there ANY room at all for payloads? Like even a small box or sack of something? Without that its usefullness would be pretty severely limiting.
:)
It also looks like there's no seat. You see this guy sitting in the middle of the air. Looks uncomfortable...
As long as you didn't run into power lines and passenger jets, this would be the answer to many traffic conjestion problems and chronic gas shortages. At $30,000 it's cheaper a car but how reliable is it? The landing gear, gearbox, and gimballing mechanism look really flimsy. How efficient will it be when a parachute and life jacket are added?
Expect to get 50 hours with an instructor before you can start using this thing. Oh and that's only flying Day VFR.
(35 hours ASEL)
The Cure of the ills of Democracy is more Democracy.
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I'd like to see how a parachute on a helicopter can actually work. Imagine the ultimate failure. No problem, just use the parachute. One problem. There are what is left of the rotating blades above. Never mind you were chicken to fly very high. You bail with the parachute and the helicopter chases you to the ground, yet the parachute does indeed open. Whew! Uh oh... Shwoosh, rip, tear, *thud* and its no longer the aircraft that is in pieces.
Now where is this neat video of a parachute that works with a helicopter?
David E. Weekly
David E. Weekly
Code / Think / Teach / Learn
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I honestly think Inspector Gadget was the motivation for this invention... :)
Finkployd
My early graduate work was with autonomous helicopters, and I saw quite a few one man helicopters. Most of them were built from kits and customized for a variety of missions/flight profiles. We worked with models (much smaller and cheaper), but some people liked these because they could have a pilot and transistion between computer control and pilot.
The problems though were cost and reliablity. These things aren't cheap (the 60" models were around $3000), they need a LOT of maintanence, and invariably crash easily. This model looks much simplier, but I'm not sure you can do things like autorotate with it. If you can't, it's a flying death trap. Ballistic shouts aren't going to work well either if the blades are still rotating. How do you prevent a fatal tangle.
Try ultralites, they are much safer.
None of those would work with a helicopter of this size, and would be hard to delpoy in general on any helicopter. The amount of energy stored in a helo blade is much higher than a plane's prop and wood isn't even usable in small models without a metal leading edge. Delayed deployment doesn't work in helos, you don't have a viable airframe to glide on if the rotors aren't being driven. This is kind of the point of autorotation. Dip down with the blades picking up speed, pull up and change the blade pitch to really bit into the air just before hitting the ground.
You can mount something above the blades, but this requires some pretty fancy rotor shafts if it doesn't have to rotate. Even then I'm not sure how well it would work. Would you have to wait until the rotor came down to a small velocity? Would there be enough time to do this and still deploy the chute?
Helicopters are a different beast from anything else that flies. I remember an AHS meeting where three papers in a row basically were about how we couldn't figure out a mathematical model to explain how they flew beyond hover.
They plan a parachute, but I don't see how it will work in more than a handful of cases. You've got a lot of energy stored in those blades (yes, helicopters store LOTS of energy in the blade flexing), and the parachute works under the assumption of dead weight pulling against the deployment. In an airplane the prop doesn't effect it much, but in a helicopter the blades are going to want to beat the air to disipate that energy. The risk of intanglement is huge. How do you mount the parachute so the ballistic deployment doesn't cause more problems?
I'll say it again, ultralite's are safer. In general you can glide down, and if you lose your lift surface then a parachute is useful. Of course just telecommuting solves almost all the problems.
If the blades are whirring above you, you don't need to worry about the chute being chopped up as you are still flying - it's when they stop whirring that you want the chute. So, no troubles...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
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It's the anscestor to these, they are a little klunky, run on large japanese motorcycle engines, and are available as plans (evidentally it costs about $8000 plus engine to get all the machining done for the rotors and the strange bearings that control blade pitch...)
One of these days when i have both money and garage space at once...
---
Play Six Pack Man. I
Q : Can it auto-rotate?
A : No.
there is no provision on this model for simplicity sake. A ballistic chute will be provided for future models
What you are talking about is (I think)
1)the way the engine gets rid of the torque created by the spinning motor (usually solved with a tail rotor)
2)is used for steering purposes
As for the electric motor you mentioned, I didn't see that anywhere. They do have gas engines on it, though, that burn 5 gal/hr, which at 60mph is only 20 mpg. I'll take my car thank you.
I'm sorry, as an aeronautical engineering student, I'll have to agree with the first AC. This thing looks totally unsafe. I wonder how hard it would be to bank it into the ground or do something totally stupid like that.
If you want something totally cool, try the SoloTrek (tm).
Discussed in this slashdot story, it has the same basic concept, but it has been developed with safety and ergonomics in mind. I can't wait to get one of those. I'll pass on this one, though.
IANAL, but I play one on
I don't know about other people, but I don't want to be a "tester" for a helicoptor. I can just see it now. As the FAA are picking through the wreckage, the Gen H-4 people arrive and start picking through the wreckage and taking TONS of pictures with their cameras...
*shrug* I guess I'm funny in that I care about my life. The phrase "something left to be studied" just really gives me that creepy feeling... the same one I get everytime I see a Macintosh.
Steve
Except if the technology is a dangerous one...
While I agree that the lack of autorotation is a problem with this vehicle, it *does* have a ballistic parachute system. This is a quick deployment parachute that is found on some other ultralight aircraft and hang gliders. Do a quick search on google for "ballistic parachute" and you can find some neat video of the device in action.
These things fall under the category of Ultra-Light Aircraft and are regulated by the FAA.
Only in the U.S.
If memory serves, they must weigh in at less than 750lbs, gas supply is limited to only 4galons, can fly onl...
In short, they must carry one person only, weigh less than 254 lbs empty, carry no more than 5 gallons of fuel, cannot be capable of flight in excess of 55 knots, and has to stall at more tnan 24 knots. In addition to some various other things.
Autogyros can't take off and land vertically, they require forward speed to takeoff and land.
Some gyros, such as the Air and Space 18a, can takeoff vertically. Landing rollouts are very short.
Autogyros have the ability to autorotate the blade if you run out of gas or lose power to the blade.
The main rotor in an autogyro is unpowered. They autorotate all the time in flight.
The blade pitch is critical in getting the blades to autorotate, that is why parachutes are required.
Blade pitch in the vast majority of autogyros is fixed. Parachutes are NOT required.
The coolest ultralight I've seen is actually a rectangular ram-air parachute attached to a motorized frame
Agreed... Great fun, and relatively cheap to fly.
Oh yeah, this is what we need, to add the gift of gravity to all those out of control drivers out there. What is terminal velocity again? too fast for the roof of my apartment!
can I get the James Bond option pack (as seen You Only Live Twice)?? The flamethrower option is nice, but for maximum effect I want the air to air missles!
First, IANAHP (I am not a helicopter pilot) but many of my friends are.
Autorotation is a technique where the angle of attack of the blades is reduced upon an engine failure so the air flowing through the descending rotor blades increases the rotational velocity of the blades. Since the angle of attack of the blades on this craft cannot be adjusted, it cannot autorotate. It even says this on the FAQ page. The FAQ also states that a ballistic chute will be provided on future models to address this shortcoming.
Autorotation ability is a necessity among full size helicopters and helicopter pilots so that an engine failure does not automatically result in death of the crew.
Or http://partners .nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Japan-Compact-Copter.ht ml
The replace-"www"-with-"partners" trick should let you bypass registration for any article.
Finaly i can ware that action man suit i got for christmas!
There's a reason why I took 8 months and $8000.00 to become a licensed pilot! It wasn't because it took me that long to learn how to control the aircraft. After only a few hours in the air I could do a decent job of that.
What really takes time in learning how to fly is making sure you know the laws perfectly. Making sure that you know how a given meteorological phenomenon will affect flight. Making sure that you drill yourself with emergency procedures so much and so often that you wake up dreaming about them. Making sure that you're comfortable enough that you can handle yourself properly in all situations.
Learning to fly involves more than just being able to control the aircraft. Certainly someone who knows how to make a few takeoffs and landings isn't necessarily someone who knows how to fly. I could just see the hordes of people who buy these helicopters under the assumption that if they've spent several hours in front of Microsoft Flight Simulator, that they know how to fly. To have people flying these things around with no license is idiotic.
- In Capitalist America, law violates YOU!
this is at AP's website:N TID=TECHNOLOGY&STORYID=APIS73DP9A00
http://wire.ap.org/APnews/center_story.html?FRO
Corollary to Moore's Law: The IQ of new computer owners is declining.
After a quick search, I found the other flavor I had forgotten: It's called SoloTrek and looks like it'd be fun to fly:)
Personally, I want me one of the SkyCar's. Forget muscle cars, I can't think of a better chick magnet than these. One leisurely stroll across the rockies and they're yours forever;)
What's neat about all of these VTOL's is that most of them run on either Diesel and/or Unleaded Gas, so you can refuel them anywhere. Although thinking about it again, that may not be so great:) Personal Aircraft would be a good motivation to move away from petroleum:)
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- James
BTW, check out Moller International. They've been prototyping a similliar type of sky car. I'd be willing to drop a million for one of these.
kwsNI
Just think, protien at 60mph. Fast food?
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I still kindof agree with the parent poster.   Despite the uprise in "office parks" in the less congested, non-metro areas, the majority of commuter traffic is still coming into the metro areas for work (not counting the telecommuters).   Vehicles like these, en masse, conjure up visions of Star Wars:TFM and the scenes on Corucant, with multiple layers and lanes of traffic, all apparently auto-guided.   I would expect special zones would have to be created in congested areas where auto-guidance would be required.   But would we, as a normally "free thinking, free acting" people relent to such auto-control?   It doesn't exist with aircraft at present, although pilots are expected to follow the flight paths and "stay in their lanes", but there's nothing stopping them from suddenly deviating...   This is why I think (at least in the U.S.) we have generally been resistant to any of the latest magno-trains and other high tech vehicles.   We like the freedom and independence of our cars.   With these little personal vehicles, where it would be expected that an average Joe Schmo might be behind the wheel so to speak, the type of assumed "stay in your lane" common sense would be a stretch for alot of idiots currently on the road (ie., folks who really do think they're flying an aircraft and believe that the front of their cars contain a single wheel that MUST stay centered on the line between lanes....  
Oh well... there are so many issues that would need to be seriously hashed out before any of these things see the light of day in our transportation structure as it stands now.   The most viable starting point would be as a bus/train replacement - a way to limit the number vehicles "in flight" while allowing the time to hash out the air traffic control issues.
-- Win2k: "It's not so much that it's only 65,000 bugs, it's just that they stopped at 65,535 to prevent an overflow."
These things fall under the category of Ultra-Light Aircraft and are regulated by the FAA. If memory serves, they must weigh in at less than 750lbs, gas supply is limited to only 4galons, can fly only during daylight VFR (visual) conditions, I believe a parachute (for the aaircraft) is also required, and must not have a passenger (fly solo) to be unlicensed. Note howerer that most people that fly them are licensed pilots. Most companies provide instruction to newbies, at least enough to get you off the ground safely! Most of the designs people refer to as helicopters aren't helicopters at all, but are autogyros. Autogyros can't take off and land vertically, they require forward speed to takeoff and land. Autogyros have the ability to autorotate the blade if you run out of gas or lose power to the blade. The blade pitch is critical in getting the blades to autorotate, that is why parachutes are required. also licensed pilots can fly these things with passengers, more gas etc.
/. of the experimental and ultra-light aircraft community. The annual EAA fly-in makes the airport in Oshkosh the busiest airport in the world for one week. Ironically Oshkosh has trouble getting a commercial carrier to service Wittman airport with commercial flights.
The coolest ultralight I've seen is actually a rectangular ram-air parachute attached to a motorized frame. Forward speed fills the parachute and off you go. Steering is accomplished by pulling down on the risers (cords attached to the side of the parachute), it has a top speed of about 40 knots, it must be the safest ultra-light around, it is afterall a parachute.
Every year the EAA Experimental aircraft Association has its annual fyl-in at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, the last week in July, for more info click here.The EAA is the
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What if you get caught out in the rain, or worse yet a thunderstorm?
Not to mention that these things are so small its very likely that if you strayed into the wrong airspace a larger aircraft wouldn't see you until you wound up on their windshield! (ouch)
The only thing any of these companies are selling are videotapes, brochures for investors, and simulation software. Exactly two of the three that claim to have a product have exactly one prototype apiece, each of which have flown a few hundred feet, and they won't make one for you at any price.
If you don't want any of this prime swampland I'm selling in New Jersey, I hear the Brooklyn Bridge is for sale.
from what I understand the lawyers killed the personal aviation market due to lawsuits. a friend from work who is very serious about flying tells me that a law(s) have passed that make this much more difficult.
you do have to wonder if something like this (no pun intended) takes off. will we really see the end of these law suits?
-Jon
this is my sig.
There are many different flavors of personal vertical takeoff and landing devices. A neat one that is more of a hovering-design called Hummingbird can be found here.
A company called Moller makes this EXREMELY cool looking model: Sky Car
There's another one I can't rememberr now - I submitted it to slashdot a week ago or so, but sadly, it was declined:)
Cheers,
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- James
Dammit!   It's noisy enough with mufflerless cars and purposely modded motorcycles that hotrod up and down straight-a-ways.  Let alone the noise coming from a regular helicopter.   All I can imagine is yet another thing to add noise pollution to my environment (and I'm not an obsessive environmental freak, by the way).
Any engineers out there have an idea as to what a "swarm" of these things would do, db-wise?   Just curious.   And interestingly, US$30,000 is pretty cheap considering it's right there in the price range of the average SUV.
-- Win2k: "It's not so much that it's only 65,000 bugs, it's just that they stopped at 65,535 to prevent an overflow."
Ooh. Another thought. What would the towing charge be on a parachuted copter when you might land your sorry ass somewhere without road access?
Clearly, this flying car invention is another which belongs on the very short, "It Would Much Cooler If I Was The Only Person To Own One," category.
Oddly, there's only about three other inventions I'd like to see in this list. For your reference they include. . .
Guns,
Nukes,
Bicycles,
--Come on. If you were the only guy with a bicycle, you could do the Letterman show and be a real live circus side show attraction. And who wouldn't want to run away with the circus? Or is that very last century? (What's today's equivalent? Can you even run away in this world and not end up a squeegie kid? Too bad. Squeegie kids don't get pet monkeys, or fall in love with the beautiful 18 year old daughter of the Amazing Flying Petrov family.)
Garund
---After all the fuss and bother, it turned out that most of the population was only good for ripping off and building pyramids. How very sad.---
2) Equip the thing with some paint-ball guns and wage war with news-copter 9
3) Tie a bungie rope to it with some of that sticky rodent tape on the end and try to airlift as many of the zoo's furry animals into the ocean
4) Airlift a pissed-off hive of killer bees onto an outdoor mall
5) shut up, I'm not done yet
5) Fly close to the ground near a parade of beutiful women in dresses
6) Drop rats on McDonalds when they're promoting 39cent hamburgers
7) Pull some chest hair offa yo' moma's legs
8) Fly over a nunnery and advertize free condoms
9) Fly over a water-based theme park with some onions, exlax, and plenty of beer
10) Crash that peice of shit with wings into your corvette and collect on insurance
without prejudice
Given that if you had to wait too long you'd fall like a brick, I'm not sure "interesting" is the word I'd use.
Traffic Guy: You'd better not head over to the West Side unless you've got a lot of fuel, because...well, shit, there goes one now.
- Hummingbird flying platform
- The Moller
- Hiller Flying platform
- SkyRider
For more information why ducted fans are a good idea for reasons other than safety see this article.----
Stop worrying about the risks of nuclear power and start worrying about the risks of not using nuclear power.
Someone already mentioned the lack of autorotational capability. Dual engines would almost be mandatory. Retreating blade stall would be a non-issue with 6' blades and a top speed of 60mph. Counter rotating blades have proven themselves already in a few designs out there. Nice "toy" but I wouldn't want to depend on it for my living. I'd much prefer a cage of some kind for minor things like birds and bugs (ever stuck your head out a car window @60 mph and gotten a bug in the eye or mouth?) The good thing it that it's MUCH cheaper than a Bell 206. I wonder how long it will take before it's regulated to death "for our own safety." Big ol' knobby tires might make roll-on landings more interesting as hovering takes a LOT of gas. "Honey?? All the other guys have one..."
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