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World's Smallest Helicopter Ready For a Spin
inventorspot.com ^ | 05/14/2008 | Staff

Posted on 05/14/2008 1:06:39 PM PDT by Red Badger

Those of us who've been dreaming of cheap personal air travel in the Buck Rogers, sci-fi jet-pack mode should turn their eyes towards Vinci, Italy on May 25. That's when Gennai Yanagisawa, inventor of the tiny GEN H-4 personal helicopter, will be taking his lightweight 165-pound whirly-gig on a demonstration flight.

Why Vinci? According to the 75-year-old Yanagisawa, "Since the concept of our helicopter came from Italy, I always wanted to take a flight in the birthplace of da Vinci."

Indeed, Leonardo's famous notebook drawings from 1493 show an "ornithopter" with a screw-like rotor. Like da Vinci's pioneering design, Yanagisawa's GEN H-4 has no tail. Instead, twin counter-rotating propellers cancel out the torque that requires single-rotor helicopters to have a perpendicular tail rotor.

The GEN H-4 personal helicopter is actually available for purchase now, though Yanagisawa's company (located in the Japanese city of Matsumoto) has so far sold only six (2 in the USA).

The cost for one is a reasonable $58,250 and once airborne, the GEN H-4 can fly at a somewhat sedate speed of 31 mph - slow yes, but probably faster than rush hour traffic. Veni, vidi, volanti!


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aeronautics; aviation; flying; helicopter
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To: Red Badger

I just love it when they point to a Leonardo Da Vinci sketch & say “look Leonardo ‘invented’ thus & such.” Leonardo was a great artist & thinker, but inventing a helicopter without a lightweight powerplant and a proper air foil is just fantasizing. A better word would be ‘conceived’. / engineer rant off


21 posted on 05/14/2008 1:31:31 PM PDT by Tallguy (Tagline is offline till something better comes along...)
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And it comes with a framed Darwin Award engraved with your name.
22 posted on 05/14/2008 1:34:13 PM PDT by D-fendr (Deus non alligatur sacramentis sed nos alligamur.)
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To: Abathar

Saw the Jesus nut let go on a Huey hovering at about 6 feet once. Spread the skids very badly. Threw one blade through both sides of a duce and a half bed. Never found the other one!


23 posted on 05/14/2008 1:39:23 PM PDT by MindBender26 (Leftists stop arguing when they see your patriotism, your logic, your CAR-15 and your block of C4.)
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To: Red Badger

No flipping way would I risk my life on that thing.


24 posted on 05/14/2008 1:39:27 PM PDT by reagan_fanatic (Average White Conservative)
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To: reagan_fanatic

The glide slope is probably pretty steep.......


25 posted on 05/14/2008 1:41:04 PM PDT by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
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To: Red Badger
Mount a belt fed semi-auto shot gun on that thing, and I might just buy one for Duck Hunting.

It would be fun to use at night in the green zone.

26 posted on 05/14/2008 1:45:42 PM PDT by Candor7 (Fascism? All it takes is for good men to say nothing.)
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To: ladtx
Never sell. No cup holders.

Put a couple of hard points on there for guns and some optional rocket pods and could do real well :)

27 posted on 05/14/2008 1:46:44 PM PDT by grjr21
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To: PA Engineer

As a fellow engineer, those LOLs mean so much.


28 posted on 05/14/2008 1:51:22 PM PDT by domenad (In all things, in all ways, at all times, let honor guide me.)
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To: Red Badger

I don’t see a place to put the milk,bread, and dog food. How will I get them home?


29 posted on 05/14/2008 1:51:38 PM PDT by fish hawk (The religion of Darwinism is dying. Thank God!)
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To: Centurion2000

“31 mph? Pass.”

I think you’d have a hard time passing anything.


30 posted on 05/14/2008 1:55:08 PM PDT by driftdiver
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To: Red Badger
World's smallest helicopter? Is it smaller than this?
31 posted on 05/14/2008 1:56:24 PM PDT by Hacklehead (Crush the liberals, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of the hippies.)
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To: Red Badger

If I had $60K, I would be there!


32 posted on 05/14/2008 2:07:43 PM PDT by jrestrepo
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To: MindBender26
"Saw the Jesus nut let go on a Huey hovering at about 6 feet once. Spread the skids very badly. Threw one blade through both sides of a duce and a half bed. Never found the other one! "
Saw two slicks land a bit too close together and their rotors hit each other.Found out those things are made like a honeycomb after being showered with pieces. I took off running and got caught in concertina wire. Took 3 guys to get me out of that wire
33 posted on 05/14/2008 3:07:18 PM PDT by Harold Shea
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To: digger48

Uh oh! No counter-rotating propellers.


34 posted on 05/14/2008 3:08:40 PM PDT by Ole Okie (Who are you going to believe anyway, Gore or your lyin' eyes?)
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To: Harold Shea

Also, with the engine suddenly unloaded, it went to lunch after throwing the tail rotor half way to Hanoi!


35 posted on 05/14/2008 4:30:58 PM PDT by MindBender26 (Leftists stop arguing when they see your patriotism, your logic, your CAR-15 and your block of C4.)
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To: Red Badger

at $353 pluse the cost of gass it is not for me.


36 posted on 05/14/2008 6:04:18 PM PDT by 20yearvet (they yell for more tests as long as its your money)
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