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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.
I find it a bit strange Guiness Records only examined the footage before granting the record. The guy is specialized in 3-D visual effects. I mean, anyone has seen the real thing flying? I am living in Montreal and we never heard about this before today. Don't you think if something like that happened at lake Ouareau in August 2014 it wouldn't have made the front page of our local newspapers?
Achille Talon
Hop!
There are at least two hoverbike projects in progress, they seem quite a bit more mature and practical than this thing but to each their own I suppose.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
http://www.hover-bike.com/MA/
http://aerofex.com/