US military to develop hoverbikes with British company

Flyaway

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The original headline is rather over egging things.

Science fiction-obsessed children of the 1960s might have been disappointed to know that half a century later they would neither live in space nor get their meals in the form of pills. One thing that would have impressed them about 2015, though, is the ability to order your own personal hoverbike.

You can now do just that, even if it is currently a request for an order with the delivery date uncertain. Malloy Aeronautics, the UK-based firm developing the machine, has already had understandable interest in their creation from the US military.

The hoverbike, remote-controlled versions of which are already flying, is heavily based on drone technology, powered by four bladed fans in protective casings. The design is intended to provide stability, speed and, the company hopes, the same range as a small helicopter.

The initial version, using two fans, was built in 2011 by Chris Malloy, a New Zealander then based in Australia. Powered by a 1200cc BMW motorbike engine, it was flown using motorbike-style controls.

Malloy then set up his eponymous company in Berkshire, in part funded by money from the seed-funding website Kickstarter. The firm first developed a drone in the new four-fan design, now on sale for as little as £595 excluding VAT. They are also building the four-fan hoverbike with investment from the US Army Research Laboratory.

Grant Stapleton, the co-director of the company with Malloy, said no one had yet flown on the new version of the hoverbike: “At the moment, it’s radio controlled, it’s flown as an unmanned vehicle. We haven’t put someone on it yet and won’t do for a little bit, while we’re working on its flight performance, things like that.”

Part of the testing involves a scaled-down prototype on which perches Buster, a 3D-printed mannequin fitted with a video camera. Those impatient for a hoverbike can download and print their own Buster.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/23/hoverbike-us-military-star-wars
 
yyCrAzn.jpg

from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-33244861
 
You got to wonder both how fast & safe it would be. Also how controllable.
 
Brings to mind the AirGeep.
http://www.piasecki.com/geeps_pa59k.php
 
Here the newest prototype by Malloy Aeronautics
A quadcopter who Malloy Aeronautics sells as 1/3 size Drone model

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YMZ3szVBB8
 
Moose said:
Go over the handlebars on a normal bike and you're having a bad day, go over the handlebars on that and you've had your last day.

Well you could always stick to the Lexus Hoverboard. ;)

http://www.popsci.com/lexus-builds-lexus-hoverboards
 
http://www.hover-bike.com/
http://www.hover-bike.com/MA/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Build_3.jpg

Self explanatory...
 
Those patent overlapping rotor discs are a bit odd. I'd be inclined to gear them 90 deg out of sync, like the old Flettner/Kaman intermeshing rotor system. That way, they could lie in the same plane and not need to be staggered at different heights.
 
US Army flies hoverbike prototype

https://www.army.mil/article/180682

https://youtu.be/NirDyboEZUg
 
Already been done...and cheaper, too... ;D ::) B)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soxxPyaAT1k

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/04/29/british-inventor-builds-incredible-working-hoverbike/


cheers,
Robin.
 

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