Volocopter

TFulwider

TFulwider

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
Jul 29, 2015
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Terry
Looks like they got enough confidence to stick a person on board. It's a really interesting project and looks like it has enough motor redundancy to be a bit safer than the standard 4 motor design. Now if it had a chute as well.....

 
Ugly. Visibility too restricted overhead. Never gonna have decent range on a charge (20 minutes). 70 KM/H speed. Total electrical failure below minimum BRS altitude deployment won't be good. Can't tell from the vid but it appears aircraft control is strictly done by the software varying prop RPM??? Quiet? Maybe slightly less than a helo but 18 highly loaded rotors spinning at high RPMs isn't going to be quiet.

I wish them the best though.
 
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And if just one engine fails at 150 feet while on approach - what then ? Just a dumb concept all around.
 
Art VanDelay said:
And if just one engine fails at 150 feet while on approach - what then ? Just a dumb concept all around.
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Well they say with 18 motors it can accept a few failures but I don't know. I'm more concerned about settling with power and the effects of recirculation in confined areas.

I'm also wondering why it has such a low cruise speed. Like a quadcopter type drone, I would think retreating blade stall wouldn't be much of an issue until ridiculously high airspeeds.

Their big selling point is that helicopters are so hard to fly and cost a lot. Yeah, it takes all of 4-5 hrs to get the hang of flying a helicopter. At $338,000, I could buy a nice R22 with plenty of cash to spare.
 
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Yea I agree with @Velocity173. Pretty ugly looking machine. I'd rather have one of those mosquito heli's
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@Ryanb I knew an EAA guy who owned one and the belt kept separating so there were then essentially two belts running the gear reduction. He also had some problems with the engine. Guess it didn't like to run non-stop at max power and the rods would try and evacuate the case. He mentioned they probably got the engine issue fixed but he was done with it by that point.
 
To hell with this unmanned flight thing. I'm training to be a commercial pilot and before you know it you people will have me out of work with this crap! I'd like to see them stop with this line of development, but it really doesn't matter what I think huh?
 
Joshuajayg said:
@Ryanb I knew an EAA guy who owned one and the belt kept separating so there were then essentially two belts running the gear reduction. He also had some problems with the engine. Guess it didn't like to run non-stop at max power and the rods would try and evacuate the case. He mentioned they probably got the engine issue fixed but he was done with it by that point.
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How long ago was he dealing with the mosquito?
 
Jim Case said:
To hell with this unmanned flight thing. I'm training to be a commercial pilot and before you know it you people will have me out of work with this crap! I'd like to see them stop with this line of development, but it really doesn't matter what I think huh?
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Did you read the CAT III B approach thread? Not likely to happen for a LONG time. Small scale is possible but I don't think large scale unmanned flight will happen for a couple generations.
 
Joshuajayg said:
Did you read the CAT III B approach thread? Not likely to happen for a LONG time. Small scale is possible but I don't think large scale unmanned flight will happen for a couple generations.
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Yeah I know, honestly. Still makes me nervous though, that people would even want to see that happen.
 
Jim Case said:
Yeah I know, honestly. Still makes me nervous though, that people would even want to see that happen.
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The fact that it is happening would be cool. The part of my life devoted to my commercial certificate that is then wasted and all the jobs lost, not so great.
 
Joshuajayg said:
The fact that it is happening would be cool. The part of my life devoted to my commercial certificate that is then wasted and all the jobs lost, not so great.
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Yeah, I agree with that. I hope that I don't live to see it, I've dreamed of being a pilot since I was three years old, if I can't do that because some stupid auto control crap comes along and replaces human pilots, i don't know what I will do, probably spiral into insanity and expire before i hit forty.
 
Jim Case said:
Yeah, I agree with that. I hope that I don't live to see it, I've dreamed of being a pilot since I was three years old, if I can't do that because some stupid auto control crap comes along and replaces human pilots, i don't know what I will do, probably spiral into insanity and expire before i hit forty.
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There will always be a need for pilots in Alaska.
 
You'll always need helicopter...no I take that back. They can fly themselves these days as well. :D
 
Velocity173 said:
Well they say with 18 motors it can accept a few failures but I don't know. I'm more concerned about settling with power and the effects of recirculation in confined areas.

I'm also wondering why it has such a low cruise speed. Like a quadcopter type drone, I would think retreating blade stall wouldn't be much of an issue until ridiculously high airspeeds.

Their big selling point is that helicopters are so hard to fly and cost a lot. Yeah, it takes all of 4-5 hrs to get the hang of flying a helicopter. At $338,000, I could buy a nice R22 with plenty of cash to spare.
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Yes, but can you fly the R22 while texting and putting on makeup?
 
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