Reply With QuoteLooks good but one thing seriously bugs me about it.
Notice the front and rear half of either end of the fans have no guards?
Id hate to have a accident and fall into there, pretty much game over if you do.
Hover Bike....???
Could be posted in several threads....I guess
"Luke Skywalker, eat your heart out—Australian Chris Malloy and his partners claim to have invented an actual, working hoverbike that zips along above the terrain like a Star Wars landspeeder cruising over the deserts of Tatooine.
"Our goal is to produce an extremely reliable helicopter, designed with rugged simplicity at its heart and true pilot safety built into the design and operation of the aircraft," Malloy's hoverbike website states. "
If you feed ducks at a pond, chances are your bound to feed a goose or two without even knowing it.
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Looks good but one thing seriously bugs me about it.
Notice the front and rear half of either end of the fans have no guards?
Id hate to have a accident and fall into there, pretty much game over if you do.
Well it looks like an interesting idea, so we'll see how far they can take it.
I didn't have much of a close look at it, other than the engine run on the video and what looks like a still shot of it hovering tethered to the ground for testing.
I can see several problems with it at this stage (not to rain on the parade).
The first is roll stability. There isn't any. If this little critter tips left or right it's going to be very difficult to recover and stabalise it. It however might be possible to computer stabalise it.
The next really obvious thing that is missing is propulsion. It's not going anywhere at this stage and any attempt to duct lifting thrust to horizontal thrust is going to see you scraping the pegs.
I'm curious if they intend to fly it in ground effect or free flight.
Without a skirt, ground effect craft are very inefficient. Not that free flight is any more efficient, but I guess we're trading efficiency for fun.
The most amusing thing which I'm not sure these guys have discovered yet is what happens when they have a plough in. This happens to hovercraft usually when they run tailwind. The wind pushes on their tail or in this case the rider and it pushes the nose down. If any part of a flying fictionless craft touches the ground and suddenly experiences lots of friction, it will spin or worse, flip and roll.
I get the feeling if this thing does fly, it will have a skirt or it will have winglets.
In any case the crashes will be spectacular.
Yes I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
A new nut is engendered every day.
Originally Posted by z1gg33
A sufficiently stable gyroscope would be a pre-requisite, else you end up in a pile of Manure of your own making!
Unless it slips your memory, Hovercraft are wide beam and longer the better.
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