Imagine sitting on your Mavic, Introducing the EVTOL

[AnotherMavicPilot]

So I was just doing my usual browsing and stumbled upon this gem, personally, I can't believe I haven't seen it earlier.

It's basically a drone scaled up, and the operator sit's on this with his remote and of he goes, no problems with signal loss as he takes the controller with him!

The only limitation is batteries, oh and balls of steel!

Check it out:
The Jetson Speeder

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Apologies if this has been posted before, I did a quick search but failed to find it.

The Jetson Speeder is a one-man piloted electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) hoverbike that has carried out manned test flights, first in Tuscany, Italy, and then in Poznan, Poland. The company was founded in October 2017.


The Speeder is a proof of concept construct with an aluminum frame and eight 18 hp (13.4 kW) electric motors and propellers vertically stacked in pairs in an H configuration. The pilot sits in the open with a small twin joystick console. Each motor uses has a maximum thrust of 94 lb (42.7 Kg). Four batteries for a total of 32 and a total battery weight of 166 lb (75.7 Kg). The total system thrust is 662 lb (300 Kg) with a maximum speed of 62 mph (100 km/h). Flight time is about 20 minutes and the batteries can be swapped out.


Jetson is currently working on a carbon fiber monocoque (the chassis being integral with the body) pre-production prototype.


The first test flight (remote controlled) with 176 lb (80 kg) of ballast was Jan. 11, 2018. The first manned flight was Feb. 28, 2018. A second test manned flight included altitudes of 10-20 ft (3-6 m) and a course of several hundred yards/meters for two or three minutes.

 

[Former Member]

Nice! I wonder if prop guard are optional?

 

[AnotherMavicPilot]

Nice! I wonder if prop guard are optional?

I'm just surprised it can take off with balls that big!

 

[Northern_Bob]

Once they offer it with a fly more package (definitely need those extra batteries) I’m all in.
NB

 

[Pontoon-pilot]

This one is a bit more refined..
being developed just a few miles from my location.

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[AnotherMavicPilot]

This one is a bit more refined..
being developed just a few miles from my location.

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By refined you mean more expensive?

Better get my wallet out!

 

[Pontoon-pilot]

$$$$ YES $$$$

 

[ehenderson410]

It’s all fun and games till someone loses an eye....

 

[built4thekil]

This is better get inside the drone pity its 300k

 

[sgrinavi]

Awesome, thanks.

I'd feel safer if it had actual controls with analog back-up rather than a transmitter.

 

[svickstc]

why not integrate some solar power into these rigs and get some longer battery life going (unless they are)

 

[Cymruflyer]

You would probably need a football field size solar panel to keep up with the power consumption.

 

[AnotherMavicPilot]

why not integrate some solar power into these rigs and get some longer battery life going (unless they are)

Yeah, I don't believe solar to be efficient enough to power these. Just charging your Mavic via solar would take a huge panel and a lot of time, hence I don't think such a charger exists

 

[ChrisOutdoors]

Problem with quadcopter design for the purpose of manned flight is that if any of the motors / blades fail it's a catastrophic failure, there is no way to recover. Planes are gliders when engines fail and in most cases they can sustain flight with only 1 engine (for those that have several) and even in a helicopter there's auto rotation which softens the blow and allows for survival. That fancy looking UAS has 8 motors, I wonder if it allows for a single loss of a motor and still sustain flight. I remember seeing automatic parachutes on one manned UAS concept but that's a half measure depending on what you're falling on.

 

[Cymruflyer]

why not integrate some solar power into these rigs and get some longer battery life going (unless they are)

Solar Power Hahahaa. Just to bring you back to earth. Tesla cars with all their money and research have a solar panel top to one of theor cars. An 8 hour, yes eight hour charge, through that solar power panel gives their car an additional 1.8 miles of range once the batteries have been depleted, yes one point eight miles total, do some research (not meant in a nasty way to you). As nice as it might sound, solar power is a long way off giving actual power for such a high demanding energy eater as a sit in drone. I wish it was not that way, though advances are always being made, so maybe some day.

 

[Cymruflyer]

Problem with quadcopter design for the purpose of manned flight is that if any of the motors / blades fail it's a catastrophic failure, there is no way to recover. Planes are gliders when engines fail and in most cases they can sustain flight with only 1 engine (for those that have several) and even in a helicopter there's auto rotation which softens the blow and allows for survival. That fancy looking UAS has 8 motors, I wonder if it allows for a single loss of a motor and still sustain flight. I remember seeing automatic parachutes on one manned UAS concept but that's a half measure depending on what you're falling on.

The manned units being built out there by all sorts of people, from what I gather, are taking that fact into account and that is another reason for top and bottom rotors, to help keep it flying to the crash site, should a main motor fail during flight. Any other type of design criteria would be a foolish path to go down.