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.

Comments

Vaporware

[hatless]

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.

insurance.

[jon_c]

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

Lots of flavors

[gengee]

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,
signature smigmature

Noise factor

[JDax]

Dammit! &nbsp It's noisy enough with mufflerless cars and purposely modded motorcycles that hotrod up and down straight-a-ways.&nbsp Let alone the noise coming from a regular helicopter. &nbsp 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? &nbsp Just curious. &nbsp And interestingly, US$30,000 is pretty cheap considering it's right there in the price range of the average SUV.

What's YOUR insurance deductible

[Garund]

One thing's certain. The insurance comapnies would make a killing if people were allowed to do themselves and each other in, (and destroy architecture and topography), with flying death cars. Heck. The AC's should all run on uncertified liquid natural gas systems. Every day should be fireworks day, and the insurance companies could buy shoes and hamburgers for every man woman and child in the country!

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.---

10 uses for a personal helicopter!

[NRAdude]

1) With a helipad on your boat, use it to search for tuna
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

Traffic Jams

[BlueGecko]

All I can say is that the traffic jams would be... interesting.

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.

Exposed blades make me nervous...

[XNormal]

The following designs use ducted fans:

• 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.


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Neat toy

[HerrGlock]

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..."