[56599]

GPTB members not allowed

The website says no pilots over 200lbs so no GPTB boys... Also it says a 155 lb pilot can go an hour on 5 gals of gas.

 

[56599]

No Auto-rotation

Well no collective means no auto-rotation. But you have all those motors connected to the roter so hopefully you could keep several going to keep the "wing" rotor going till you can glide safely down..

 

[56599]

Actually the creative Japanese engineers have made it so even the GPTB could fly it. i.e they have simplified the normal flight control system for helicopters kind of like how the cotrols for the Segway are simplied.. i.e if you didn't have computers the Segway would be impossilbe to control...

 

[36284]

Well, thing I worry about is altitude thing. If your scoot runs out of fuel, you coast to a stop. If you're at 3000 feet and have misjudged the fuel on board, or experiences any other malady that causes the engine to quit, you're going to fall 3000 ft. There is a kind of emergency measure that helicopter pilots must know how to do, called auto rotation. Basically, it means pitching the blades in such a way that hurtling toward the earth at 100 mph or so can produce enough wind to get your rotors speed up. Then, at just the right height, when God can be seen, but you still can't tell what color her eyes are, you change that pitch to turn all that stored energy into lift, and slow your release greatly If you do it right, I believe you hit the ground at about 25 mph., in some sort of regular helicopter.Not exactly soft, but survivable. If you don't do it perfectly, who knows how fast you'll be going when you hit the ground? This does not sound like something that you can learn from a video. Helicopter pilots have, if anything, more complex skills than a fixed wing pilot I think this is fun to think about, but I don't think any of us really want or loved ones using one of these things in any way. Maybe for us thrill seekers, but God please, not the rest.

 

[stlarson]

Re: Good Lord!

I think it was Nightline which had a story on this very thing. There are development communities now where the houses and roads are built to act as small aircraft hangars and runways. At least one of them was near LA if I remember correctly, but unfortunately I can't find the story right now.

 

[stlarson]

It is amusing, but I'm going to hold out for a silent, cold fusion powered flying saucer, with the chaos-theory-based propulsion system so that I can get out of this crazy galaxy fast.

 

[Buzglyd]

Re: GPTB members not allowed

Last time I checked you outweighed nearly all the GPTB members.

 

[christian_gates]

4 twins - arranged like an 8-cylinder radial, apparently (not too many radials currently in production...).



cdg

 

[seruzawa]

My money is on the infinite improbability drivve.

 

[seruzawa]

Maybe they should have named it the "Icarus".



Though it looks like one heckuva solution to that crowded evelator problem for those who work downtown.

 

[21684]

Re: No Auto-rotation

You'd have to have more balls than sense to take that thing up over one hundred feet. It should be required to have a built-in parachute that you can use if this thing fails. At least with a motorcycle, if the engine quits, usually it doesn't mean you are gonna die.

 

[21684]

Dragonfly wing

I wish some think-tank would figure out how to allow humans to fly with dragonfly type wings. You ever watch a dragonfly. Very cool indeed. Replace the two rotors on a CH46 Sea Knight with dragonfly wings. That baby would be something to see. Forward-sideways-backwards-straight up, no problem.

 

[56599]

Live to tell about it.

Yes I have lived through an auto-rotation. I was a heli-attack foreman when I fought forest fires....All I remember is feeling that my back had just compressed a couple of inches..Helicopter pilots swear they would rather be in chopper than a fixed aircraft after that I believed them..

 

[57335]

I'll take a TARDIS and be done with this time and space altogether. ;-)

 

[Buzglyd]

LSD

A couple of hits of good acid and you're there.

 

[how999999]

I can see from the video that I'd want a set of clip-ons to lower the handlebars to a more "aggressive" sport position . . .

 

[23020]

Re: Or as Hudson sez:

...and then it's "game over man! game OVER!"

I just couldn't resist.

 

[lwatcdr]

Re: Live to tell about it.

problem is this thing can not auto-rotate!

I think they offer a ballistic parachute.

As to Helicopters vs fixed wing.

Helicopters are a collection of spare parts flying in loose formation.

Just kidding... Sort of.

 

[cruiz-euro]

I think you are ripe to get a Rune



- cruiz-euro

 

[cruiz-euro]

Re: No Auto-rotation

How about a back packed parachute. Could you jump this thing without those blades slicing you like an overripe cantaloupe?

- cruiz-euro