Don't have 85k
Though I'm hopefull that the hovering skateboard that is due by next year will be somewhat cheaper. It better be, been waiting almost 30 years for it.
If you've ever wanted to ride a hovering motorbike like the ones featured in Return of the Jedi, you'll soon be able to get one step closer to your dream – provided you have the spare coin lying around. A California company called Aerofex has come up with the Aero-X, a two-passenger vehicle that's something like a hovercraft …
I was expecting a CGI mock-up of a fictional product that would never fly. Then I suspected a full size model suspended behind a tow-truck, but thirteen seconds in, the whole shadow of the vehicle is visible at once, with no shadow of a cable or tow-truck. They either made a high quality fake or they have a working prototype. Either way, the video far exceeded my expectations. Here is a different video:
http://youtu.be/akA-B64RACU
Neither video has any sound. I bet it is so loud that you would never hear any complaints from the neighbours.
"there's noise complaints from the neighbours to deal with."
Assuming your neighbours aren't Russian you can dispense with the armour piercing options, and carry more of the useful stuff against civilians and lightly armed bandits. So, stock up on flechettes, particularly if they've got any small dogs. Ask nicely and the suppliers might offer you mini-flechettes designed purely for small dogs and civies.
Quote: "Assuming your neighbours aren't Russian"
As a person of Russian descent I appreciate the humor. However, it is a bit off from reality. It is not Russians you need to be afraid of.
Several Eastern European countries made a pretty good living during the cold war by buying export version Russian gear (one without the expensive analogue EMP resistant control systems) and bolting a cheap PC to the back of it (something similar to what Israel used to do with old US kit). They also manufacture quite a bit of russian small arms kit under license. In any case, these countries had a flow of small arms per capita compared to which Russia or even the US look distinctly unarmed.
My recollections from the days when I used to live in an apartment block in one of those countries was that with our family's 2 NPK Arsenal "commando issue" 9mm heavy duty hydraulic harpoons and a high power air gun were practically unarmed. The neighbors under us had a couple of AK47, the cop living above me had a Dragunov, an arsenal of hunting rifles as well as his standard issue handgun. That was _DURING_ the cold war when there was a resemblance of law and order. That number increased during the crazy 90-es and the post-fall-of-the-wall wars to a point where I did not dare contemplate how much armament did they have.
So if you are sporting an Apache helicopter, the likelihood that neighbors pissed off by the noise will shoot it down is fairly low if they are Russian. Your chances of taking off more than once are roughly NIL if they are Georgian, Bulgairan or let's say Armenian. If they are Moldovan there will be a smoking crater where your property used to be.
Not kidding by the way - I used to keep a link to an article about an idiot bookseller (one I used to buy books from) getting arrested for being drunken and disorderly and threatening his in-law with a shoulder launched Strela missile in an apartment block.
a shoulder launched Strela missile in an apartment block
MY KIND OF COUNTRY!
But these are the goods that the CIA DOESN't want the Syrian "rebels" to have (as officially stated two days ago) lest they blow up a few of "our" Airbus Lard Transporters on final approach (can't have that, there may be discontentment among the people). You are telling me you can find these in slavic apartment blocks?
There was even some relief that Ghaddafi's arsenal, rapidly disappearing into the neighborhood, only included the vehicle-mounted version which apparently cannot be readily converted to be man-portable.
Russia or even the US look distinctly unarmed
I hear gun control in Russia is rather restrictive? Well, it may not be enforced of course.
Thank you for all the sage advice...the net effect of which would seem to be buy flechettes; smoke everyone from Eastern Europe on the first (test) flight and maybe flip a coin for Russians.
On the other hand, if gerdesj is correct then the noise would only really be complaint-worthy if I opened fire.
Well, I try to be a considerate-ish neighbour, plus there's the property value aspect to a house being surrounded by smoking craters.
Would a prudent course of action be to smoke only those Eastern European neighbours who work nights (and would be the most sensitive to noise) and claim my finger slipped during the first flight? First flight and all...there's got to be more buttons in there than a game console controller and it's well known that I can't work those bastards, so it would be fairly plausible.
"If we're having wishes, I'll have an Apache attack helicopter. With all of the options, there's noise complaints from the neighbours to deal with."
I live in Yeovil which is where the (Agusta) Westland Apache comes from, very close to the airfield. It's not that noisy to be honest even when they do (did) night flying.
If you open fire with the Hellcats or nose gun - now that will be noisy. Mind you, who's going to sit in the other seat as your CPG?
Cheers
Jon
The mileage will depend upon the wind direction since that maximum 45mph is air speed.
You're absolutely right though. For that kind of money I could get an ultralight, a Hayabusa and a Landrover with plenty of change left over for various types of mind-altering chemicals if I ever got bored the previous three things.
Just a toy for barren salt flats somewhere. No floats so sinks if breaks over water. Doesn't look agile enough to navigate close to obstacles - thorn tree in the face at 10 ft altitude sucks, so not a bush craft. Can't handle dunes in a sand desert. Nearly as useful as a chocolate tea pot.
Aussie bloke made something similar back in 2011 (at $40K) with 'better' specs and that didn't get anywhere either.
Since this is airborne, it will take much longer to stop or to turn than a wheeled vehicle.
If it is going 45mph at 5 feet above the ground, then if someone is in its path it will take their head off.
If it is used off-road then such accidents will happen.
On-road? I'd expect it to slew into the side of a lorry or bus unless it slows right down for corners.
And that's without considering the effect of the down-draught from the fans.
I would expect something better,watching it in both videos it is clear to me that a quad copter big enough to sit on would be better and more manageable if you could use the engine to run a generator to electric lift fans. Although sticking a genny on it would probably mean doing away with any passenger capability.
Electric fans would enable it to use pitch and yaw sensors and possibly something approaching brakes instead of carefully dumping it on the ground as it appeared to do in the video.
If they made it more verstatile and intuitive it will stand a chance, as it is they'll be lucky to sell ten before they disappear . Or maybe they could stick a turbofan in it and vector nozzles and call something like ...... ohhh Harrier?
Why convert to electric motors, use something along the lines of the Stingray 500.
Single (central) motor, shaft and belt drive. Even if it was four ducted fans that would seem to produce better stability than this, just remind me how you stop it pitching from side to side with a couple of moving people above the COG with two fans in line?
if you could rotate the four ducts as well as affect the pitch it might be possible to go and stop in a real hurry. Include small wheels on the front edge of one pair of fan housing for around town, retractable steering set on other end.
Who mentioned batteries?
Once it's a shaft drive from one central point it makes greater sense to use a conventional engine, I was only pointing to the constant speed, variable pitch, four point prop system.
Once the thing is wider it opens it to using ground affect wing profiles to improve the efficiency on the national hoverways and desert crossings.
I can see it being a loosing battle to try and fit it in the width of a conventional car while in flight mode but the in-line fans seem too cumbersome and hard to control for simple agile flight.
" In three years' time, you'll surely have enough to take deposit on your Aero-X and buy a six-pack with the change."
Yeah, and I'll bet it has one of those cute little stickers that says "do not operate under the influence of alcohol" or similar. I found that a black Sharpie usually fixes that.
Give me time, I will have it working shortly.
Disclaimer:- Do not taunt Happy Fun Board. Only designed for use in magnetically neutral environments. Danger: Contains substances known in California and the lesser 49 states to cause exploding head syndrome. Additional safety warnings posted on underside of board in Welsh, Elvish and Klingon. Caution: Under no circumstances use during solar flares, we are not responsible for blunt force trauma and/or splattering like very fine jam over an infinite number of Universes. Additional warning: Do not open covers, unless you are qualified technician. May contain unstable antiparticles which can react explosively with normal matter. This will void product warranty.
Just buy a hovercraft, they're cheaper and already do a lot more. Twelve feet max altitude really makes SFA difference, and it looks very unstable, especially when you consider what will happen when you actually try flying over an obstacle (hint - go watch the bit in "Zero Dark Thirty" where the stealth chopper gets too close to the wall and starts sucking its own downwash).
".....Protip: These are not documentaries." The type of fool that actually thinks this 'hoverbike' is a good idea probably has no other frame of reference than films and TV. Seriously, I know an ignoramus like you would have problems with understanding a vortex ring state, you probably think it's something from Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings series, so why would I even try and explain the problems of relying on an air-cushion when not over a completely flat surface? Oh, you did notice that the vid only shows the hoverbike struggling for stability over completely flat terrain, right? Did you ever stop to think what happens to the air cushion when your hoverbike meets even a low vertical wall, a sudden dip in the ground, or when one rotor is partially over a raised bit of ground or a slope? I'd be interested to see how the bike copes when a displaced air cushion is making it roll seeing as it does not seem to have any form stabilising control surfaces, I suspect the result is you fall off and the bike lands on top of you.
If you have:
- a desert-like environment
- some motorcycle goggles to stop all that dust getting in your eyes
- deep pockets to fund the cost of powering 240 horsepower continuously just to stay off the ground
- no interest in other people (because you're not going to be able to use this thing in town)
...then it's the perfect form of transport.
This post has been deleted by its author
We all know the way this works.
Something revolutionary is proposed.
An intuitive mechanic fangles something that kinda works.
He makes a few assumptions with help from friends and a few beers.
...and this is what you get.
.
Why so negative?
Been there, done that, and it don't really work that way. Sadly.
Tilting a vehicle with its entire rotor system for speed has severe limitations, particularly with efficiency.
1) A Hover bike? Nope.
I travelled at over 90 MPH on an F1 hovercraft of my own design in the early '80s.
Others took their customer craft over 100 MPH.
it weighed less, cost a whole lot less, and won chamionships. It also flew higher, on occasion.
This sad thing would hardly catch a cold, never mind any racing hovercraft - or motorbike.
2) Have you noticed how much money these shade tree projects need? Ah, right.
Wish it did work well. But....
At least it looks good.
The hoverboards in BTTF and the ones in Star Wars probably use a reversed Higgs effect to levitate.
This isn't actually antigravity but a short distance repulsive gravitomagnetic field generated by the interaction between superconductors (thanks Evgene!) and complex electromagnetic fields.
The device being worked on at the moment as of May 2nd 2014 is actually a lot simpler than the early attempts but the equivalent thrust is in the kilonewtons per kg of device.
You can also generate a true antigravity effect using spinning superconductors bombarded with positrons, this is an ongoing research project as if it can generate a confined beam it could even be used to make new chemical elements directly by simulating the gravitational fields within a neutron star (patent pending)