Mongo like. Mongo want.
Hell, I'll sell a kidney to get one of these if I have to.
180MPH, 180 mi. range. Screw a sports car.
I could've spent the last year commuting to work in 20 minutes instead of 3 hours' driving.
Somebody tell Bill Whittle about this thing.
And it's a damned shame it didn't fly before Hognose passed away.
Kudos to the Germans who made it, and more importantly, made it work, and best wishes on their future success. I can't wait to see it enter actual production and distribution.
Ferrari and Lambo would be fools for not calling these guys for a partnership, if Ford and GM can't figure it out.
So, that's part of what I was promised growing up.
SpaceX seems to working on another part.
Now...where's my jetpack and laser pistol, you futurist engineering bitchez?
Currently jet fuel/gasoline has an energy density of between 50 and 100 times that of a lithium ion battery (some batteries are more efficient but ALL have less than 2% of the energy density of
ReplyDeleteliquid fuel. Until that physical reality changes this type of aircraft is pointless, uber expensive and a waste of resources. ( Li-ON battery .36-.87 MJ per KG of weight. Jet fuel/gasoline 46 MJ per KG of weight.)
This is a pipe dream....high grade CG and currently can be had ONLY in the material known as UNOBTAINIUM.
The way that aircraft jumped off the ground seemed it indicate an excess of thrust or more likely being remotely controlled with no 200 lb. pilot on board. It's got a long, long way to go before one gets parked in front of my house.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Dan. Not going to happen with a Lithium battery and can't happen as designed without a lot of electric motors so not going to happen.
Dan: that's not CG, it's real, and it flew.
ReplyDelete(And yes loren, NOLO on the maiden flight. RC, and empty.)
The energy/kg isn't the point; they have a working prototype.
Also, no fuel load means no change in handling over time, except for crew (of 2).
They aren't trying to replace a 757, but 160 miles range (with a 10% reserve) is a flying commuter car, for all intents and purposes. And that's before we get into solar recharging.
If the cost and maintenance time per flight hr beats helicopters', then rotary wing just lost the short-range passenger market.
For that matter, maybe even the PD patrol market. Especially if initial acquisition is substantially less than a Bell Jetranger $1.2M new) or Hughes 500 ($1.5M new).
I'm waiting to see if it's priced more like a Tesla than a Camry.
And if they can get to production from prototype.
But they're farther ahead than any 200 versions of vaporware I've seen since the early 1980s. So this isn't Lucy holding the football again...yet.
You know, people driving here in NJ routinely scare me enough to soil my shorts in vehicles they can only control (or fail to) in two dimensions, I'd rather not see some jackwagon who can change altitude as well as speed and lane while updating facebook/tweeting/instagraming/changing music.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I know that could be Darwin at work, I've no objection to such a-holes removing themselves from the gene pool. My problem is the people they take with them, like the husband of my wife's friend who lost a leg because someone was too busy texting to notice that the truck he was approaching was parked on the side of the road, with orange cones, while he filled a pothole and caught him between car-and-truck.
Mark D
Using the stupidest end of the gene pool as an argument against technology undoes everything, starting with fire and sharpened sticks.
ReplyDeleteThe real argument is to think of how many of those very retards you'd be leaving behind on the ground in the first place.
A real big homebuilt drone. Now put someone in it. Flying it. Looks mighty wind-affected, as you would expect given its likely heft.....
ReplyDeleteFer cripes sakes, man, let them do flight testing.
ReplyDeleteManning it and testing the flight envelope is only how every plane since the Wright Brothers has been validated and certified.
But unlike 57 examples going back the last 30 years, this one is real, not an artist's conception, and it's actually flown.
Putting it miles ahead of the previous stuff.
The make-or-break will be production, and price point.
Straight up George Jetson. Very cool. Impressed they are able to get it that compact.
ReplyDelete-BAP45