Real Life Hoverbike

[Zor]

Link


Pretty cool machine.

Zor

[Jub]

I hope civilian versions come out, because I'd like to try one.

[Mr Bean]

But Aerofex does not plan to immediately develop and sell a manned version. Instead, the aerospace firm sees the aerial vehicle as a test platform for new unmanned drones — heavy-lift robotic workhorses that could use the same hover technology to work in agricultural fields, or swiftly deliver supplies to search-and-rescue teams in rough terrain.

Are they mental? People will take one look at this picture and see flying motorcycle as in "holy shit it's the future where can I buy one?"

If this company were had a marketing type somewhere in the org chart rather than only clueless types I'd be yelling at the engineers to make one with a semi-enclosed cabin (Nothing more than make it look like a flying cycle, tiny windscreen get a test pilot kitted out in biking leathers and helmet and get all the staff cars out to a track and stage a fake traffic jam, show all the dejected people stuck in cars in the hot sun and here comes our heliocycle flying past and fifteen feet above the ground giving them the bird as he flys past in his marvelous machine. If I could bribe the right FAA people I'd do it over an actual traffic jam and take it up to let the Top Gear boys play with it for publicity and have our picture on the cover Newsweek, Popular Mechanics and Time within the week.

Then I'd look to twitter to see which celebrities twitted out they wanted one and I'd send message inviting them down to come try it out to generate further buzz. At this one I'd have to hire someone to shovel out my office out from all the piles of investor money every single person who grew up wanting a flying car will have dropped off and I can go from there.

Most likely it would be to ask the engineers to get the airflow worked out so the pilot can have a fully enclosed cabin and carry a passenger because THAT model would be the one to make the average person want one. First we get the slow news demographic followed by the rich thrill seeking idiots, then we get the people and then we start building our Scrooge McDuck money vault.

[Ultonius]

It looks quite similar to this design created by Australian Christopher Malloy.

[Lagmonster]

I don't know how great these would be in public. I'd imagine the noise from it would make a fleet of Harleys sound like a gentle whispering breeze.

[Irbis]

I don't know how great these would be in public. I'd imagine the noise from it would make a fleet of Harleys sound like a gentle whispering breeze.

Even if noise can be deal with to an extent, stream of air capable of lifting such thing could potentially deal a lot of damage in urban environment, plus, it might just not be safe to use due to lack of space between trucks and low-hanging cables. It would basically need huge overhaul of any given city infrastructure, and if handed to celebrity it might just end with said celebrity killing him/herself and huge damage to company from being sued/interest in vehicle vanishing. Might just not be practical product, though, I can see it being sold as quad-like off road vehicle...

[Lord Revan]

I don't know how great these would be in public. I'd imagine the noise from it would make a fleet of Harleys sound like a gentle whispering breeze.

Even if noise can be deal with to an extent, stream of air capable of lifting such thing could potentially deal a lot of damage in urban environment, plus, it might just not be safe to use due to lack of space between trucks and low-hanging cables. It would basically need huge overhaul of any given city infrastructure, and if handed to celebrity it might just end with said celebrity killing him/herself and huge damage to company from being sued/interest in vehicle vanishing. Might just not be practical product, though, I can see it being sold as quad-like off road vehicle...

then there's also the thing that regular bike accidents are rather messy as it is, now think what that be with a bike that could potentially go even faster then a regular bike and that's ignoring the safety hazard the fan blades would cause in event of a crash (and you don't need a celeberty for that there's enough morons within the "regular" people).

[Tolya]

What are the legal ramifications of making it a consumer product? I would LOVE to have one, but I guess this wouldn't qualify under "hovercrafts". Would I need a special license (like a pilot license) to operate one?

[Jub]

I think licensing would depend on if it gets classed as an ultralight or not.

[Guardsman Bass]

EDIT: Nevermind, Bean beat me to it.

[PeZook]

Even if noise can be deal with to an extent, stream of air capable of lifting such thing could potentially deal a lot of damage in urban environment, plus, it might just not be safe to use due to lack of space between trucks and low-hanging cables. It would basically need huge overhaul of any given city infrastructure, and if handed to celebrity it might just end with said celebrity killing him/herself and huge damage to company from being sued/interest in vehicle vanishing. Might just not be practical product, though, I can see it being sold as quad-like off road vehicle...

I thought of small rocks, glass shards and pieces of trash shooting aside in every which way as it passes over them. It's a big enough problem with helicopters.

Also fuel consumption.

[Korgeta]

Even if noise can be deal with to an extent, stream of air capable of lifting such thing could potentially deal a lot of damage in urban environment, plus, it might just not be safe to use due to lack of space between trucks and low-hanging cables. It would basically need huge overhaul of any given city infrastructure, and if handed to celebrity it might just end with said celebrity killing him/herself and huge damage to company from being sued/interest in vehicle vanishing. Might just not be practical product, though, I can see it being sold as quad-like off road vehicle...

I thought of small rocks, glass shards and pieces of trash shooting aside in every which way as it passes over them. It's a big enough problem with helicopters.

Also fuel consumption.

Fuel consumption will be one of the bigges issues, now that goverments and companies want to try and phase motor transportation to either save less on petrol consumption (ie:20 people getting on a bus as opposed to 20 people driving) or make them into more electric and renewable fuel based vehicles.

As some said licence for such a thing, safety and envromental risks it may cause (the noise coming from it would greatly disturb wildlife)
The design is a long way off for commercial use, I'd guess maybe 15yrs before it could be a suitable enough to prvide valued entertainment, still be expensive though)

[Grumman]

I thought of small rocks, glass shards and pieces of trash shooting aside in every which way as it passes over them. It's a big enough problem with helicopters.

A helicopter needs to produce a lot more downwards thrust than this would, just because it's heavier. It might still be too much, but a half-ton of thrust from a hoverbike isn't going to be as disruptive as, say, ten tons of thrust from an Apache.

[PeZook]

It will be if it has to move into places you normally expect bikes to go into, that helicopters generally don't.

[Gandalf]

I wonder how long it would take for someone to realise that they could go over a lot of fences with a vehicle like this, with a few explosives on board, and thus makes necessary modifications?