Posted on 01/27/2022 6:05:58 AM PST by Red Badger
The Speeder's fast, long range, easily-deployed and modular architecture has drawn significant interest from the US Department of DefenseJetPack Aviation VIEW 14 IMAGES
We've chatted with JetPack Aviation's David Mayman many times over the years. His company's groundbreaking work on jetpacks and flying motorcycles seems to proceed at a dizzying pace, and it's always fascinating and enlightening to learn what's new on the workshop bench, so we caught up with Mayman earlier this month to see where things are at.
While the jetpack business continues to progress, with some fun developments in the pipeline, the company's now devoting about 70 percent of its time and energy to its Speeder Air Utility Vehicle. The Speeder will be a totally unique and modular aircraft capable of extremely high speeds, over distances potentially as high as 1,000 miles. It can be configured as a manned flying motorcycle, an unmanned ultra-fast cargo drone, a firefighting platform, or potentially even a manned "Pocket F-35" capable of approaching the speed of sound. It can fly as a jet-powered quadcopter, or clip on detachable wings for high-speed, long-range missions.
Naturally, the US defense agencies are very interested, and the Speeder is one of the top candidates for the US Air Force's AFWERX High-Speed VTOL program. There are also some civilian missions it'd be perfect for, even if its roaring jet engines would be far too loud for inner-city transport.
When we last interviewed Mayman back in July, the team was completing tethered flight tests on the first Speeder prototype, a jet-powered drone called the P1, covered in so much scaffolding it looked like a flying clothes hoist. Since then, it's been replaced by a smaller, but still very industrial looking P1.5 prototype that will soon fly off tether.
(Excerpt) Read more at newatlas.com ...
Flying Motorcycle Ping!.........................
VIDEO AT LINK!....................................
Flying Motorcycle Ping!.....................
Another way to die on a motorcycle. Several millions Im sure.
Ill stick with my terrestrial gas powered bikes.
Given the attention of your average driver, you might be safer in the air.
For a while, at least.
Time to invest in companies that manufacture ballistic parachutes.
How well does it glide after an engine failure?
‘How well does it glide after an engine failure?”
Like a rock
Agreed. I fly a 300 million dollar jet with a take off gross weight of 987.5 thousand pounds. I have a commercial helicopter rating as well, if it has wings I can fly it. This doesn’t and there is no way I’d climb on that thing. I know how a wing performs, that thing, not so much….
What it really needs is a static lines attached to that gas tank, to the driver for a quick deploy parachute in the event of an engine failure. one engine quitting on that thing would be devastated.
If the head-on collision doesn’t kill you...the drop from altitude will.
a chute sure, but i wouldn’t want to be attached to it if it was going down...
other than engine management, it should be able to use mil-std flight control... yes?
I would think so, why reinvent the wheel.
if it was good enough for Igor Sikorsky it’s good enough for me...............
A Flying Motorcycle?
Now THAT’S something I would like to have! :-)
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