Gentleman takes his heli-vector for a spin

Remember when people dressed up to operate their Heli-Vectors? (Via This Isn't Happiness)

• [tylerkaraszewski]

  Seems like it would be slightly safer with the blades not directly in the path between the pilot who is standing on a tiny platform and the water. “Oops, I slipped, thankfully I just got wet and crashed my flying machine,” vs a blood-spattering Raiders of the Lost Ark sort of death.

• [dragonfrog]

  This is from ’56.  Given the date, I’d say he’s not dressed up, he’s just dressed.

  When did ‘suit and tie’ make the transition from ‘not going out in your underwear’  to ‘dressed up’ anyway?  Mid-sixties?  Later?

  • [xunker]

    Agreed, his pants aren’t the same colour as his jacket, which is itself only single-breasted.  

    This is the sort of thing our parents used to put on to go to the john in an the middle of the night.

    • [marckaw]

      That’s a shadow. They’re the same color.

  • [Art]

    I’d say mid-sixties is pretty accurate. 

    (JFK had much to do with the onset of mens’ casual styling- as he never wore a hat, which was the style for so very long.)

  • [james]

    Yeah, google Igor Sikorsky or VS-300. No shortage of menswear in early rotorcraft testing.

• [EH]

  Is it more stable for him to be above the blades than below?

  • [james]

    No, but it does significantly reduce power requirements by keeping the rotors closer to the ground. It’s a tradeoff.

  • [Vincent Maldia]

    if the engine weighs more than the passenger, maybe yes

• [bcsizemo]

  Yup every time I see these I always think of them as a pure engineering creation.  Counter rotating blades spinning under a small platform with a rider strapped to the top.  It all makes logical sense, most weight at the bottom, no excess weight (like safety mesh).  All fun and games until someone looses a foot.

  • [gadgetphile]

    There’s also the ground effect that makes the blades more effective closer to the ground. Notice how you never (barely ever?) see pictures of those kinds of vehicles high in the air?

• [Quinx]

  I bet that could make a salad really quick.

• [José Côrte-Real]

  Walternate?

  • [Ben Ehlers]

    I was thinking more Leroy Palmer.

    • [NelC]

      I was thinking Leland Palmer. Is this an out-take from Twin Peaks?

• [Daniel Reed]

  Hey look!  Its Howard Stark!

• [novium]

  Or the DEVIL! (He just looks like Ray Wise to me)

  • [.]

    That is exactly what I thought. Who else would ride an infernal machine like that?

  • [Oliver Hoffmann]

    My first thought was Ray Wise as well!

  • [RoofusKit]

    Me three

• [grimc]

  Goodbye, Mr. Bond.

  • [Rich Keller]

    “Do you expect me to walk?”

    “No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to fly.”

• [Deidzoeb]

  He’s all dressed up because he’s demonstrating the contraption at the Darwin Awards Television Special, in color!

• [Abel Undercity]

  Despite the fact that it looks like a really good way to get sliced up into coldcuts, I kinda want one.

• [Blaze Curry]

  Would a safety cage over those blades be a serious impediment to their functioning?
  It’d be seriously heavy though…necessitating larger blades….but once the margins expand to a certain size, why not put a small cabin up top there?

• [jackrabbitslim]

  As for safety concerns, this reminds me of the old days when Popular Mechanics would instruct you in building a table saw, lathe, bandsaw (from plywood!), even a power hacksaw. Safety features ranged from “be careful” to “don’t put your fingers in the blade”.  The gentleman shown above is simply operating his craft according to those basic precepts.

• [parfae]

  Of course he’s in a suit. If he wasn’t, this would just look *stupid*!

• [nosehat]

  I see this as a retro futurist Segway 2.0!

  • [Petzl]

    To quote a comment from the link:
    Like a Segway, but more lethal.

• [yri]

  Sweet. And I love how cool and composed he looks despite standing mere inches above the giant salad shooter blades. He looks like he’s on his way to a lakeside garden party, at which the other guests better keep their distance as he arrives, or they’ll lose their legs at the knee.

• [Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther]

  It was a more elegant age.

• [tempbot]

  Looks like there’s a safety belt.

• [mappo]

  That is one bad-ass suicide machine!  Nice of him to off himself over water so as to minimize the cleanup afterward.

• [Snarf Snarf]

  And it’s rigged up to cook four giant twist breads over the campfire!

• [Stan Baker]

  Once you arrive, how long do you have to wait before stepping off intact?

• [LightningRose]

  “Hey everybody! Watch this!”

• [doug rogers]

  As to safety, if he were the least bit clever, his hand would be on a deadman switch.

• [lecti]

  Mobile human blender. mmmm…

• [MarlboroTestMonkey7]

  Well, lets say that the blades could only rotate IF the pilot was securely standing -feet strapped- to a weight activated switch. Dont be a wussy.

• [pjcamp]

  It’s a blender for people.

  • [MarlboroTestMonkey7]

    Does it blend?  yes!

• [Fletch]

  this is actually a very stable configuration… but this was also it’s downfall… it would not travel forward very well as it tended to self correct to it’s most stable (a still hover) modern helicopters are ‘unstable’ this is why they can fly forwards and maintain a forward speed. every craft in the design and testing stage tends to be kinda dangerous… the short falls as everyone has talked about here is WHY we don’t see these buzzing around overhead every day. 

  also note this would fly without an operator and still be stable where the reverse (blades over head) will slip off into the ground sidewise without constant correction… this stability is what was being proven here…