Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/02/25/watch-a-video-of-a-wild-looking-one-man-helicopter-called-the-hz-1-aerocycle-1950s.html
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“What is this helicopter missing?”
“An additional failure mode.”
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If a pilot of this contraption ever said “oops,” it was the last thing he said.
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The idea of making it standard equipment for infantrymen fell apart after a series of crashes highlighted its instability and safety concerns.
Like the fact that the soldier-pilot would be stuck on the platform, a sitting duck until the rotors stopped spinning. I can’t believe this never occurred to somebody.
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The beefed up versions werent much better…
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Unofficially called “the flying platform”, even more unofficially called “the flying Cuisinart”.
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Pro tip here: If you are offered the chance to use a vehicle where the directions are “stand on a small platform just above the rotating blades”, just don’t.
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Yet it took BBS all of three comments to diagnose this as a remarkably terrible idea.
ETA: What’s also shocking is that they didn’t even bother to outfit the prototype with any safety gear whatsoever. It doesn’t even look like the pilot is strapped in and there’s definitely not a safer cage guarding him from the rotors.
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but there was;
The machine was a simple, cross-shaped frame, with the pilot standing on a platform, secured by a safety harness.
see?
the safety harness was even so friggin safe, you could fly hands-free! fuckyeah! /s
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“Of the very worst words that can be heard by anyone high in the air, the pair known as ‘Oh-oh’ possibly combine the maximum bowel-knotting terror with the minimum wastage of breath.” Pterry Pratchett
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As other said… man, I know that things were more “seat of your pants” back in the day, but yeesh. I can’t imagine how one landing little hard or a little too much at an angle would send you flying into those spinning rotors.
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Why “human spinner cone” is not a viable profession.
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Or what happens if you clip a bush or tree with the rotors. And it’s a helicopter, they are nowhere near as easy to control as skilled pilots make them look.
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I’m sorry, did you say rotating knives?
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There’s a reason jet engines became more popular than rotating blades.
Apropos of nothing except it was recommended by YouTube following this (perhaps military related videos and right wind maniacs are linked by the YT algorithm?)…
Holy rightist bias clickbait headline there. Is Forbes morphing into OANN?
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Well, I stand corrected. Sign me up, General!
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Recent technological advances have brought us even more impressive innovations, such as the possibility of death caused by a dead battery in your handheld remote control:
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If you’re ever in the SF Bay Area don’t miss the Hiller air museum, which has a bunch of crazypants stuff like this to look at IRL. Not flying, sadly! One of my faves.
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The small “Wings of History” museum in San Martin is near there too, and if anything some of the crazy homebuilt aircraft there really step up the insanity another notch. Check out this helicopter built out of a car:
https://www.wingsofhistory.org/dobbins-simcopter/
