Author Topic: Personal Air Vehicles (Hover Bikes, Hover Cars, Personal Rotary Wing Aircraft)  (Read 4659 times)

Offline Jeffry Fontaine

  • Unaffiliated Independent Subversive...and the last person to go for a trip on a Mexicana dH Comet 4
  • Global Moderator
  • His stash is able to be seen from space...
PAL-V, a company located in the Netherlands are the designers and manufacturers of the PAL-V ONE air and land vehicle. 


(Image source: PAL-V Press and Media folder)

PAL-V One Image links (company web page
PAL-V One Video links (company web page

 
Technical Specifications

Capacity: 2 persons
Empty weight: 680 Kg
Maximum weight: 910 Kg
Maximum power: 170 kW (230 hp)
Dimensions in ground mode on the road: (LxWxH): 4.0 x 1.6 x 1.6 m
Road performance - Maximum speed: 180 km/h (112mph)
Acceleration: 0 – 100 km/h (0 – 60 mph): < 8 sec
Estimated fuel economy: 12 km/l (28mpg)
Range: 1200 km (750 miles)

Flight Performance
Maximum speed (VNE): 97 kts (180 km/h)
Minimum speed for level flight: 27 kts (50 km/h)
Take-off roll: 165 m (540 ft)
Landing roll: 30 m (100 ft)
Estimated fuel economy: 36 l/h (9,5 gph)
Range: 350-500 km (220-315 miles) depending on PAL-V type
« Last Edit: July 10, 2014, 04:57:49 AM by Jeffry Fontaine »
"Every day we hear about new studies 'revealing' what should have been obvious to sentient beings for generations; 'Research shows wolverines don't like to be teased" -- Jonah Goldberg

Offline Jeffry Fontaine

  • Unaffiliated Independent Subversive...and the last person to go for a trip on a Mexicana dH Comet 4
  • Global Moderator
  • His stash is able to be seen from space...
So a new discussion topic to cover things that can be described as Personal Air Vehicles such as Hover-Bikes and other vehicles that defy gravity and maintain flight by brute force or some other method. 

Inspired to create this based on a news report from Reuters describing a rather promising looking hover-bike that is under development by Mallory Aeronautics in the UK.  I am hoping this will actually become a reality considering all of the other failures and broken promises that have been made in the past over similar vehicles. 


(Image sourece: Mallory Aeronautics)

Image above shows the two-rotor hover-bike that is currently under testing.  Additional images on the Mallory web page show a quad-rotor hover-bike that is under development as a UAV and eventually to be cleared and certified for manned flight. 
 
« Last Edit: August 26, 2014, 02:24:23 PM by Jeffry Fontaine »
"Every day we hear about new studies 'revealing' what should have been obvious to sentient beings for generations; 'Research shows wolverines don't like to be teased" -- Jonah Goldberg

Offline Flyer

  • Newly Joined - Welcome me!
I am in two minds with regards to personal air vehicles, especially multi rotor or fan machines. I do like the idea of single seat vertical flight, but I don't like the result of any kind of engine (or motor if it's electric) failure, most of these machines use fixed pitch rotors/propellers so autorotation is impossible. Ballistic parachutes are slight insurance but you need enough altitude to use it, and even then BRS are not 100% reliable themselves.

I think I'll stick with  fixed wing aircraft for real world flight. I'm looking forward to long endurance powerful electric propulsion to be common. I came across a electric powered Cri Cri on the net some time ago that I liked a lot, it had four motors, one push and one pull in each pod. That to me is a great personal air vehicle (aerobatic too) but it wouldn't count here as it utilises standard aerodynamics not brute force for flight :P

A model of the Moller M400 Skycar would be cool though.

Offline upnorth

  • Distorting a reality near you.
  • You want maple syrup on that Macchi?
A little over a year ago, they played around with the flying bike idea in the Czech Republic:

http://www.radio.cz/en/section/in-focus/czechs-develop-worlds-first-flying-bike

Personal flying vehicles look cool at first glance; but thinking about how some people drive, flying is the last thing I'd want to see them able to do.
Pickled Wings, A Blog for Preserved Aircraft:
http://pickledwings.com/

Beyond Prague, Traveling the Rest of the Czech Republic:
http://beyondprague.net/

Offline Jeffry Fontaine

  • Unaffiliated Independent Subversive...and the last person to go for a trip on a Mexicana dH Comet 4
  • Global Moderator
  • His stash is able to be seen from space...
Personal flying vehicles look cool at first glance; but thinking about how some people drive, flying is the last thing I'd want to see them able to do.
Think of it as a way to create a new source for a glut of YouTube fail videos and improving the gene pool :)
"Every day we hear about new studies 'revealing' what should have been obvious to sentient beings for generations; 'Research shows wolverines don't like to be teased" -- Jonah Goldberg

Offline jcf

  • Global Moderator
  • Turn that Gila-copter down!
Looking at the history of jetskis/wetbikes etc., the assumption that poor operation
will only injure/kill the operator, thus 'improving the gene pool', is ill-founded. Many
uninvolved innocents have been severely injured, and killed, by idiots on those sorts
of water vehicles. The flying equivalent would have much greater opportunity to injure,
maim and kill bystanders. If such a thing becomes a reality, it will be severely restricted
as to where it can be operated.

Frankly, it's always been a solution looking for a problem.
“Conspiracy theory’s got to be simple.
Sense doesn’t come into it. People are
more scared of how complicated shit
actually is than they ever are about
whatever’s supposed to be behind the
conspiracy.”
-The Peripheral, William Gibson 2014

Offline Rickshaw

  • "Of course, I could be talking out of my hat"
If equipped with recovery chutes, which functioned automatically if the vehicle departs controlled flight parameters, a lot of those sorts of concerns would be addressed.  I still think that fan "jet pack" from New Zealand is perhaps the most sensible idea.  The "hover bikes" rely too much on the pilot's sense of balance for stability whereas the "jet pack" idea uses the pilot's weight below the fans to maintain balance.   Downunder, I could see "hover bike" use heavily regulated like the Jetskis, etc. are in public space.  However, they could be very useful on the farm, mustering and simply getting around.
« Last Edit: August 30, 2014, 05:50:01 PM by Rickshaw »

Offline Volkodav

  • Counts rivits with his abacus...
  • Much older now...but procrastinating about it
I'm all for them as the lack of cars, pedestrians and dodgy road surfaces would make it much safer than motorcycling.

Offline Story

  • Nicht mein Zirkus, nicht meine Affen...
Boeing says it has successfully completed the first test flight of a prototype for its autonomous passenger air vehicle, which could start carrying riders as early as next year.

The test was executed on Tuesday at an airport in Manassas, Va., near the headquarters of Aurora Flight Sciences, the Boeing subsidiary that’s been developing the electric-powered, vertical takeoff-and-landing aircraft, also known as an eVTOL craft. Boeing NeXt, the business unit that leads Boeing’s urban air mobility efforts, is in charge of the test program.

Tuesday’s uncrewed flight lasted less than a minute and involved a controlled takeoff, hover and landing. The maneuvers were designed to test the prototype’s autonomous functions and ground control systems. A test dummy was strapped inside the cockpit for the ride.


*

The passenger air vehicle, or PAV, builds on Aurora’s past efforts in the eVTOL field. The craft is 30 feet long and 28 feet wide, with eight rotors for vertical lift and a tail rotor to facilitate forward flight. It’s designed to fly in full autonomous mode with a maximum range of 50 miles.

Pics and video at link below
https://www.yahoo.com/news/boeing-passenger-air-vehicle-prototype-111551329.html

Offline Jeffry Fontaine

  • Unaffiliated Independent Subversive...and the last person to go for a trip on a Mexicana dH Comet 4
  • Global Moderator
  • His stash is able to be seen from space...

YouTube video clip of an actual working/flying-hovering Hover-Bike flight in Detroit Michigan
"Every day we hear about new studies 'revealing' what should have been obvious to sentient beings for generations; 'Research shows wolverines don't like to be teased" -- Jonah Goldberg

Offline Frank3k

  • Excession
  • Global Moderator
  • Formerly Frank2056. New upgrade!
    • My new webpage
Doesn't look that stable. Drone flight controllers are very good, adaptable for different masses and very cheap... so what's their excuse?