Posted on 11/14/2018 7:39:58 AM PST by Red Badger
California firm's long-anticipated flying motorcycle will set you back $150,000.
This drone-like flying motorcycle can be yours for $150,000.Hoversurf Official via YouTube
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The era of the hoverbike is finally at hand, but you’ll have to be well-heeled to join in. A California company recently announced that it would begin deliveries of its long-anticipated flying motorcycle in the first half of 2019 for an estimated price of $150,000.
The Hoversurf S3 looks a bit like what you’d get if you crossed a motorcycle with a quadcopter. It has a seat for one rider and four horizontally mounted electric propellers controlled by a pair of joysticks.
The sub-250-pound craft is designed to skim over the landscape at the company-specified “safe altitude" of about 16 feet and at speeds of up to 60 miles an hour. Its lithium-manganese-nickel batteries allow airborne jaunts of up to 25 minutes, according to the manufacturer, San Jose-based Hoversurf.
No license is needed to fly the carbon-fiber craft, as its low weight and low speed exempt it from FAA regulations. But with those fast-spinning propellers so close, you might need an extra measure of self-confidence.
“I think it's a good idea assuming that it can be made safe, which is questionable in my mind,” said Richard Anderson, a professor of aerospace engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. “I assume if you ran into somebody it would chop them up.”
Hoversurf’s chief operating officer, Joseph Segura-Conn, said the vehicle has numerous safety features, including a computer-controlled system for stabilizing the craft and laser scanners for detecting and avoiding obstacles. To help ensure the safety of the rider and of anyone who might get in the way, the company plans to offer extensive training to customers — and future models will be carried aloft not by propellers but by enclosed fans.
“It looks frightening at the beginning, and you’re unsure,” said Segura-Conn, who is one of a handful of people who have flown one of the hoverbikes. “But as soon as you get up in the air, there’s no experience like it.” He said the first deliveries would be next May or June.
Hoversurf isn’t the only company developing hoverbikes or similar piloted drones.
The era of the hoverbike is finally at hand, but you’ll have to be well-heeled to join in. A California company recently announced that it would begin deliveries of its long-anticipated flying motorcycle in the first half of 2019 for an estimated price of $150,000.
The Hoversurf S3 looks a bit like what you’d get if you crossed a motorcycle with a quadcopter. It has a seat for one rider and four horizontally mounted electric propellers controlled by a pair of joysticks.
The sub-250-pound craft is designed to skim over the landscape at the company-specified “safe altitude" of about 16 feet and at speeds of up to 60 miles an hour. Its lithium-manganese-nickel batteries allow airborne jaunts of up to 25 minutes, according to the manufacturer, San Jose-based Hoversurf.
No license is needed to fly the carbon-fiber craft, as its low weight and low speed exempt it from FAA regulations. But with those fast-spinning propellers so close, you might need an extra measure of self-confidence.
“I think it's a good idea assuming that it can be made safe, which is questionable in my mind,” said Richard Anderson, a professor of aerospace engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. “I assume if you ran into somebody it would chop them up.”
Hoversurf’s chief operating officer, Joseph Segura-Conn, said the vehicle has numerous safety features, including a computer-controlled system for stabilizing the craft and laser scanners for detecting and avoiding obstacles. To help ensure the safety of the rider and of anyone who might get in the way, the company plans to offer extensive training to customers — and future models will be carried aloft not by propellers but by enclosed fans.
“It looks frightening at the beginning, and you’re unsure,” said Segura-Conn, who is one of a handful of people who have flown one of the hoverbikes. “But as soon as you get up in the air, there’s no experience like it.” He said the first deliveries would be next May or June.
Hoversurf isn’t the only company developing hoverbikes or similar piloted drones.
MOTORCYCLE PING!....................
VIDEO AT LINK!.................
Pretty sure ducted fans would have been a much better option than the Slicer/Dicer they show.
Awesome! A flying guillotine.
Un-enclosed rotors on a near-ground vehicle?
What could go wrong?
“Richard Anderson, a professor of aerospace engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida: “I assume if you ran into somebody it would chop them up.”
Gee....ya think??
This thing is safe until somebody dies flying one which will happen.
I wouldn’t get anywhere near that thing.
“Get on da choppah!”
LoL, exactly. A helicopter with blades at ground level. What could go wrong?
Gee....ya think??
New series:
This device gives the term “chopper” a whole new literal meaning.
Thompson smg’s made good choppers fot gangsters way back.
And the pool opens on when the first person will lose a limb or be decapitated by one of these things is now officially open.
OR gets hit by somebody flying one...............
I predict ‘day one’...................
We really don’t have to worry about it. None are flying yet and when they do and start crashing regulations will appear quickly.
Can you imagine a ‘gang’ of these things?....................
I want one too. I can’t wait to do loop-de-loops and barrel rolls and astound my family and friends.
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