10 second Hoverbike ride

A1Topgun

A1Topgun

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Ron
At $150,000.00 this is a pretty expensive 10 second ride!


Hoverbike has met all Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requirements and can be purchased for a whopping $150,000 and doesn't need a license to operate.



 
what could possible go wrong...……...oh wait...…..
 
This may set back the Dubai police futuristic police program a little...

Might want to come up with some sort of training....
 
Here, strap yourself to these flying machetes and make 8 seconds without getting bucked off. Congrats sir, you and Darwin about to get introduced.
 
It appears he was fine until he quickly chopped the throttle at the top of his descent, causing a quick drop and a panic response to recapture lift.

That thing needs some computer smarts to counter some of the user errors.

I hope the company making these has the appropriate insurance. This thing screams lawsuit waiting to happen.
 
The technology clearly exists to keep these things extremely well stabilized. Look at any of the quadcopters available today, even the tiniest toys are very stable.

I can imagine that this would be completely invalidated by having a person on board, unpredictably moving around and throwing off the CG. Even normal reactions, and certainly overreactions, could easily lead to a scenario similar to PIO on landing, where the pilot is out of sync with the aircraft.
 
yeahh, I want one of those buzzing over my head as I walk downtown, uh-huh
 
RussR said:
The technology clearly exists to keep these things extremely well stabilized. Look at any of the quadcopters available today, even the tiniest toys are very stable.

I can imagine that this would be completely invalidated by having a person on board, unpredictably moving around and throwing off the CG. Even normal reactions, and certainly overreactions, could easily lead to a scenario similar to PIO on landing, where the pilot is out of sync with the aircraft.
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I know even a small drone can handle a gimballing camera that weighs several pounds with no issues whatsoever. This is a case of not enough automation.
 
A1Topgun said:
At $150,000.00 this is a pretty expensive 10 second ride!


Hoverbike has met all Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requirements and can be purchased for a whopping $150,000 and doesn't need a license to operate.



Click to expand...
I think the requirement that it "met" was being light enough to not have to meet any real requirements.
This sort of thing always reminds me of poor Paul Moller and his creations ... stuck in the past, watching the future fly by: https://www.moller.com/
 
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Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
Burning through $100,000,000+ of other peoples money to create a handful of sorta prototypes? Yea, gotta feel real sorry for the guy.
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Moller made a lot of claims. I wonder if his fundraising and/or spending claims were accurate? I can't imagine how you would spend $100M on what he created.
 
But wait! There's more! It slices...it dices...it can turn you into a dozen bloody pieces in the blink of an eye.

Darwin Awards candidate.
 
kyleb said:
Moller made a lot of claims. I wonder if his fundraising and/or spending claims were accurate? I can't imagine how you would spend $100M on what he created.
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I work in jet engine certification. That would be a couple of months' budget for some of them, and he did it over many decades.
 
I always had the impression that Moller was pretty much a one man shop or very small operation at most. Those expenses would be vastly lower than anything on an industrial scale.
 
I don't think it is fake, this guy makes a lot of stuff.
 
Not hard when you never get out of ground effect. The University of MD made one that was pedaled.
 
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