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The Hoverboard Flies Closer To Reality

Dave Knott writes: Fans of 1980s cinema were disappointed when the year 2015 arrived without a practical version Marty McFly's hoverboard. Now, a Montréal-based man has brought it closer to reality by setting a new record for longest "flight" by hoverboard. In a filmed test recognized by the Guiness Book of World Records, Catalin Alexandru Duru pilots his somewhat cumbersome looking rig for 250 meters — five times the previous record — at a height of five meters above Quebec's Lake Ouareau. Duru and his business partner "hope to have a new prototype finished by the end of the year and then have hoverboards available for purchase across the country. He wouldn't say how much the prototype cost to build, but said that the first generation of the machine will likely be 'quite expensive.'" "This thing is still quite dangerous," he added, explaining that the pilot uses only his or her feet to fly the contraption. The commercial version's software will limit it to flying below a height of about one-and-a-half meters above the ground.

2 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. Ducted fans? by MichaelSmith · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Looks like a drone with a guy standing on top. It must chew through LiPo batteries.

  2. Re:Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If everywhere you go is on water.

    Serious question : why can't it work over land ?

    '

    I'm sure it'll work just fine over land... but when something goes wrong it's gonna hurt a lot more when you hit the ground. Over water is probably a better bet for testing your prototype without a lot of doctor's bills.