Flying Jet-Powered Hoverboard Now a Reality (theverge.com)

Zapata Racing has begun testing prototypes of a new jet-powered hoverboard called the "Flyboard Air". The Verge published a new interview with the company's CEO, who confirms that a backpack full of kerosene-grade fuel powers the flying hoverboard's four 250-horsepower turboengines, with two more engines used for stabilizaton. Capable of flying up to 100 miles per hour, the jet-powered hoverboard uses an internal algorithm to adjust the thrust and angle of each turboengine, so "It's like we have six systems working together plus my brain and my legs." The company hopes to ultimately interest the military and security sectors in the technology, but they're also working on a smaller version that could be piloted while sitting, which the CEO describes as "extremely small, extremely stable, and something that you can take to go and buy your bread in the morning."

Comments

Actual URL

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.theverge.com/2016/4...

URL in posted item has too many hyphens between hoverboard and interview

Of course, you could go buy bread on this thing...

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

...The only caveat is, no one else should be out at that time, or come closer than 150 feet to you. Jet exhaust of 1000 HP, and a couple of stability thrusters so close to ground will kick up so much of small debris, anything down stream of the jet wash is going to suffer greatly. Foreign object reingestion, got to hand it to the military to come up with three word terms, is a major problem in the Harrier jump jets. Harrier also has a few thrust nozzles for stabilization at low air speeds. Harrier landing has to be excruciatingly precise, and zones cleared of small debris.

FYI Redundant Systems Design

[Press2ToContinue]

From TFA:

"the whole system should be able to land if you have one turboreactor fail. So I’m able to stabilize it even if I lost one engine and we had enough thrust to get down and land. If one turboreactor fails it’s fine, because we have four turboreactors, and we can fly with three. And inside the remote we have three different Wi-Fi channels, plus we have three sensors. Everything is threefold, and they speak together, so in case one fails, the two also know which one failed."