Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/02/08/manned-drone-flight-ehang.html
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Any word on fuel economy? I think helicopters run about $15,000 per mile, right?
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This obviously begs the question “how many journeys ended in catastrophe?”
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Considering how even the small ones are annoyingly noisy, I shudder at the thought of a sky filled with these.
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It’s great. But it’s ultimately just a small helicopter.
I suppose the greatest advance is the navigation technology, eliminating the need for a skilled pilot.
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I’ll stick with Little Nellie.
Fits in a few suitcases - and based on a real vehicle you could buy.
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It may be easy to think of quad-copters (and hexa, octa, etc.) as “helicopters” because of their use of rotor blades. But there is a big difference aircraft-wise between “drones” and helicopters, and that’s this:
Helicopter movement is determined by collective, cyclic, and pedals, in order to pilot. The dynamics between these inputs determines direction, velocity, etc. With “drones,” in many ways they are much simpler, as these dynamics are mostly a factor of simply running the rotors at different speeds. Helicopters actually alter the angle of the blades themselves (either collectively, or using the cyclic).
For these reasons, drones are much easier to pilot!
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Autogyros are cray – in a permanent state of autorotation! (That means no motor is spinning the blades for lift, rather, wind flying through the blades spins them, and creates lift.)
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I sense a need for protective shields around the blades, though, before someone gets sliced and diced.
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Nah, being electric, energy is cheaper and maintenance costs are much lower. So you’ll just have to be rich to use one rather than grotesquely wealthy.
I’m sure it’s close to zero. It’s only a journey if you go somewhere after all, so all those times it plummeted out of the sky almost immediately after lift-off don’t count!
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Can you imagine Air DUI? Don’t laugh, we all know someone who’d do it.
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Like the motor-scooters in Barcelona.
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I don’t see a ballistic parachute system and the latest design from BRS advises a minimum 1000 foot activation but can deploy fully at 260 feet. No auto-rotation capability as with a helicopter means I won’t be trusting my life or well being in one of these.
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Most major municipalities have noise ordinances that would preclude the use of these.
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Such a Brave New World we’re living in!
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Interesting Times.
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