Posted on 06/16/2011 12:13:17 AM PDT by Immerito
What goes 173 mph at 10,000 feet that you ride like a motorcycle? It's either a Star Wars speeder bike, which doesn't exist, or this hoverbike invented by some Australian dude, which actually does. And you don't even need a pilot's license to fly it.
Chris Malloy's prototype hoverbike has so far not done anything but hover while tied to the ground, but that is in no way stopping its designer from making all kinds of wildly optimistic projections about its performance and availability. Expect this thing to be able to travel at upwards of 170 mph, and you can take it to 10,000 feet (or even higher, with oxygen), although you'll probably have more fun whipping around trees down low, just make sure and look out for hooligans wielding light sabers.
Since it's classified as an ultralight, you won't technically need a pilot's license, although a parachute will likely be a good idea. And for better or worse, the hoverbike is shaping up to be affordable to the point where people who really shouldn't be riding around on one of these will probably be able to: a production run of 100 a year will peg them at $40,000 each, and if 1,000 are ordered, that cost could drop to something comparable to a performance motorcycle. Yeah, having everybody commuting to work on these things would probably be a fiasco, but who cares. It's a hoverbike, man!
Pics up.
I so want one of these!
Here are the regs, IHMO no way is that thing less than 254 lbs.
****************************************************
This part prescribes rules governing the operation of ultralight vehicles in the United States. For the purposes of this part, an ultralight vehicle is a vehicle that:
(a) Is used or intended to be used for manned operation in the air by a single occupant;
(b) Is used or intended to be used for recreation or sport purposes only;
(c) Does not have any U.S. or foreign airworthiness certificate; and
(d) If unpowered, weighs less than 155 pounds; or
(e) If powered:
(1) Weighs less than 254 pounds empty weight, excluding floats and safety devices which are intended for deployment in a potentially catastrophic situation;
(2) Has a fuel capacity not exceeding 5 U.S. gallons;
(3) Is not capable of more than 55 knots calibrated airspeed at full power in level flight; and
(4) Has a power-off stall speed which does not exceed 24 knots calibrated airspeed.
At that speed and elevation, who’s going to catch you? /sarc
So - too fast (and probably too heavy) under the ultralight rules, and too fast for the LSA rules (120 kts max speed in level flight).
My answer - Stay below the limits of controlled airspace, put tiny wheels at the end of those four outriggers, and license it as a car.
3 wheels and stay a motorcycle....
It will never fly in America, pun intended.
Its too handy of a terrorist tool.
It gives too much freedom for Mr. Average American.
And so like a scene from ‘The Island” only elite Police or the Feds will have these.
Future Headline: Brisbane man chopped to bits by hoverbike blades....
People won’t be paying tolls on roads and bridges anymore. They will never allow it.
The problem with mass-market flying vehicles isn't technology -- we've been able to build such devices for decades now, including whatever safety features are needed to make a controlled landing in the case of a system failure.
No, the problem is much more basic than that: air traffic control.
Or, as I like to put it: I'm not keen on giving the idiots who can't drive in two dimensions a third one to mess with.
Well with the proper “black box” it can record nautical miles, or even altitude.
I bet some one will come up with altitude taxes as well.
remember that very soon most cars and trucks will have to have some form of a device that can store miles driven, and to be able to transmit it to some form of revenue agency.
Lawyers.
A Government Motors (GM) Hoverbike? Look for the union label.
The world needs more visionaries, and I think this fellow needs to be congratulated on his invention. My only question is what happens if this thing gets inverted?
hoverplow
Watch out for the power and telephone lines......
LOL!
Candidate for the Darwin award???
And as the bikes fall out of the sky from various reasons (malfunctions, out of fuel, etc.) and the numbers of deaths rise precipitously, I’ll go get my ambulance er flying bike-chasing law degree and make millions overnight. This idea, like all flying cars or bike ideas, will fail on the simple fact that you can coast your car to the side of the road when it malfunctions, but a flying whatever that malfunctions while several thousand feet in the air will go down very rapidly.
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