Is it just me...
or does that look like a giant dual slot graphics card.
Israeli developers working on a ducted-fan flying hovercar say that a full-size, turbine driven unmanned prototype will fly "within two months". Flight tests with a smaller electrically-driven model, they say, have validated their basic technology. The Urban Aeronautics Mule being readied for testing in Israel Sorry sir, …
Stability isn't the problem. It's power needed for a given payload. Smaller fans need more power than a large helicopter rotor disc. It takes 400hp to fly a small copter like the Cayuse with a 1 tonne payload. This thing might need twice the power, for less payload. So it can get closer to buildings than a copter? So what.
There was a GI Joe vehicle from the mid-80s called the Sky Hawk that looked almost identical to this thing. Even as an 8 year old, I wasn't exactly sure how such an aircraft was supposed to fly. The idea of "center of mass" probably never entered the toy designers' heads.
http://www.yojoe.com/vehicles/84/skyhawk/
Black helicopter, because, well, COBRA had black helicopters.
"A real advantage?
By GeorgeTuk Posted Tuesday 16th June 2009 13:24 GMT
Its really difficult to see what true advantage this could have over the traditional helicopter other than straight line speed."
Not even that as the helicopter speed record belongs to the Westland Lynx (albeit a souped up version) set about 20 years ago. The speed limit for helicopter being the point at which the rotors travel supersonically.
Paris because...