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Buy Your Very Own Exoskeleton Flying Vehicle

dks writes "Yahoo! News is running a story about a personal flying machine originally developed for the military that straps on an individual's back and allows her to fly around for over two hours at a time. The prototype is now up for auction on eBay. The only catch--you have to agree not to operate the vehicle if you purchase it. Uh...yeah...I'm just buying it for display. Yeah, that's it."

16 of 197 comments (clear)

  1. I don't know... by kypper · · Score: 5, Funny

    Would you buy something for a million dollars off of ebay when the seller's rating is zero?

  2. xmas by wastedimage · · Score: 4, Funny

    Man and they just missed christmas..

  3. can't operate? by jcoy42 · · Score: 5, Funny
    you have to agree not to operate the vehicle if you purchase it.

    So how would you know it worked?

    I guess you could look at it like being married.

    --
    Never trust an atom. They make up everything.
  4. Re:Grrr by jcoy42 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Where have you been? Your response should have been more like:

    Huzzah! A slashdot story posted with *no* spelling errors, with comprehensible sentence structure!

    Go CowboyNeal!

    --
    Never trust an atom. They make up everything.
  5. Re:CRASHED Exo-skeleton Flying Vehicle by ptomblin · · Score: 5, Funny

    All these people saying "well, if I buy it and fly it, how are they going to know" should know that SoloTrek never flew it except in a very low hover with a tether attached, so they don't know if the flight controls even work or if it's capable of flight outside of ground effect.

    They'd know you attempted to fly it by reading the obituaries.

    --
    The next Cmdr Taco duplicate will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
  6. Re:Grrr by MoThugz · · Score: 5, Funny

    You're missing the point... she will use the strap-on to fly him around so that everyone will know the feeling.

    OK... mod away, it is a bad joke, but I can't resist!

  7. This is nothing by prof_vestanpance · · Score: 5, Funny

    I have a fully functioning time machine for sale, bidding starts at £2 million. The only catch you have to promise not to use it. I also have a babe magnet but that's not for sale, but I may consider renting, usual conditions apply.

  8. Mr Osborne! Mr Osborne! by nounderscores · · Score: 3, Funny

    The Glider and the Flight suit are missing!

  9. If I bought it by Amsterdam+Vallon · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... the first thing I'd do is slap some Type-R stickers on this baby.

    I mean, according to the specs page, it's only got 120 horsepower. I'd definitely have to keep adding and try to get that over 300.

    After the stickers, I'd probably buy some shiny alloy propeller covers for the engine. Nothing says speed like a bling blingin' shine.

    Then I'd alter the exhaust. To get better performance and an altogether faster ride, I'd replace the existing muffler with a stainless steel, hole-bored version. This would allow for a louder, more powerful sounding flight. Nearly everyone recognizes that fart can noises are sure signs of a ton of horses in the engine.

    Last but not least, I'd get some neon lighting for above the head of the passenger, a few blacklight stickers for the interior portion, bright blue Xenon lights for nighttime flying, and a few custom Eminem and Jay-Z mixes for some kick ass in-flight tunage!

    --

    Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate. Ex-O'Reilly/MIT employee, now a full-time Google employee.
  10. Re:Grrr by mysticgoat · · Score: 3, Funny

    'He' is the singular indefinite pronoun in English...
    and later
    'She' is the singular pronoun of personification in English...

    Bah! You are attempting to apply rules of latin grammar to english. This didn't work in the 18th and 19th centuries when it was all the rage among the hoity-toity upper class. Why do you think it has any relevance to today's slashdot readers?

    I suppose you also object to splitting infinitives! You would not allow us "To boldly go where no one has gone before"?!

    Fie! Get thee hence and never return! Should slashdot ever need a grammar policeman, let them at least be policing the native structure of English and not foisting foreign rules upon us!

    There are some interesting usage notes from the The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language at Dictionary.com/he (and see also the links from there to "she" and "they" and the usage notes at those locations). These show that there is major disagreement in usage of "he" and "she" in ambiguous contexts, and the use of "he" as a representative sampling of a mixed group is now considered appropriate by only a minority of the publisher's Usage Panel.

  11. Make Your Own by Brain$torm · · Score: 2, Funny

    The question to really ask is what would you wanna do with one of those anyway? I think I'd use one to get to college in, depends how many miles to the gallon I could get tho ;)

    Someone said its selling at > 1mil, so why not go for the pragmatic solution of making one yourself (and whos gonna tell you not to fly one you've just made?!) - yes, thats right, 200 grands worth of battery powered hair dryers, a few office fans...also powered by battery....and you could make your own!

    Alternativly, collect bird feathers, glue them together with wax hence making yourself fake wings. I mean, come on, no one will have thought of that before!

  12. Re:Why? by Guppy06 · · Score: 5, Funny

    "I don't see why they have to agree not to fly it."

    The preceding restriction is brought to us by the letter F, the letter A, and another letter A.

  13. Flying Machine? by Sayten241 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Sounds good, how many cup-holders does it have?

  14. Great, more air-accidents by digital+photo · · Score: 2, Funny

    When I hear about these things, I think about the following:

    A scene in Simpsons where the "Merry Bobbins" flies away only to be sucked into an airliner engine...

    In the Jetsons, people on jetpacks "banging heads while flying"... except in real life, there would be more "banging and splattering"...

    From "The Wizard of Oz"... an army of people with these things in flying monkey costumes heading out to terrorize trick-or-treaters on Halloween.

    ... Actually, that last idea doesn't sound half bad....

  15. Re:Grrr by TechnoGrl · · Score: 2, Funny

    >Confusing the two exhibits not a warm-and-fuzzy
    >concern for the inclusion of women so much as a
    >writer's or speaker's ignorance.

    TechnoGirl is willing to bet heavily that "Captainclever" is single.

    --
    ----- In Your Cubicle No One Can Hear You Scream...
  16. Re:It doesn't work... by Scooter · · Score: 3, Funny

    Hmm so having removed critical components (ie components without which it will not perform it;s function), it is no longer a flying machine then.

    I will watch this auction with great interest. If anyone does buy it, there's loads of junk round the back of my garage I can flog as "Non-working flying machines". They will also have critical compnents missing (ie harness, motors, fuel source, ducting, controls, balancing electronics, instruments....)