Comments on: Testing out a Star Wars-style hover bike in the Mojave desert

By: jgs

jgs — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 19:53:00 +0000

According to the company, ground effect got nothin’ to do with it.

http://flightlog.aerofex.com/:
“Test-bed 6, Hovercraft 2
An aircraft has six degrees of freedom and control, a hovercraft has two. A hovercraft relies on the surface for lift and stability, enabling simpler control, but keeping it close to the ground. Leave the ground – by even a few feet, and you need full control about all three axis – like any aircraft.
The test-bed is designed as a free-flier and is not limited to low altitude. Its domain is in the air. Its purpose is to develop flight technologies that may broaden access to aviation.
Enormous respect for hovercraft – they have their own art and merit, however we fly on a different science.”

For that matter, the PS story, quoted right here on BB, says “they’ve tested it at … 15 feet high”. Which seems sufficient for your common or garden ditch.

(The Aerofex page also specifically says there’s no software control system at all, it’s evidently all mechanical.)

By: pjcamp

pjcamp — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 02:11:00 +0000

Cuisinart makes bikes? Who knew?

By: soupisgoodfood

soupisgoodfood — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 22:46:00 +0000

I’d give this thing ago if you sat inside it and it had a roll-bar. At the moment, I’d hate to have some kind of mechanical/electronics failure or discover a new edge to the flight envelop at speed. Guess that’s why they limited the speed so much. I think I’d rather tumble off a motorbike at higher speed, because it would probably be less distance to the ground and less possibility of getting crush by your vehicle. Should be interesting to see where this project goes, anyway.

By: v_vsn

v_vsn — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 06:15:00 +0000

This should be a meme, or as we used to say back in the 90′s, an in-reference. Applicable for whenever something depicted – usually fictionally – exceeds our expectations, thus leading us to be let-down that the reality is not as great. Curiosity rover does moonwalks and somersaults on Mars? (*shakes fist in the air* ZEMECKIS!)

By: gypsydoctor

gypsydoctor — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 03:48:00 +0000

This is going to make those incredibly loud leaf blowers seem like nothing at all.

By: daltec

daltec — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 23:57:00 +0000

That was the "Future Vertical Lift Aircraft Design Conference" or something, from the American Helicopter Society. It's over my head, but the paper the company presented that explains the engineering behind this vehicle is here.

By: omnivore

omnivore — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 14:34:00 +0000

I find it amazing that someone has just invented the hovercraft. I was pretty sure that I rode on one in the 70′s.

By: eff_em

eff_em — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 11:44:00 +0000

I didn’t realize “helicopter” is a unit of velocity. “earlier versions …went as fast as a helicopter.” What is that is MPH or m/s? Well, I’m pretty sure they meant “as fast as a toy helicopter” since the average 2-bladed news chopper comfortably flies at well over 100 MPH.
cute concept . . . don’t really understand why they put the operator in such an awkward position. reclining offers a much better field of vision.

By: L_Mariachi

L_Mariachi — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 10:42:00 +0000

You say that like it’s a bad thing.

By: Ray Perkins

Ray Perkins — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 10:12:00 +0000

“Does it have breaks?” No, looks fine to me. Doesn’t seem to have brakes, though.

By: MarlboroTestMonkey7

MarlboroTestMonkey7 — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 04:21:00 +0000

I don’t see why it doesn’t have four wheels, rollers or rubber pads in order to prevent the obvious tear from repetitive take off, landing and general drafting.

By: BombBlastLightingWaltz

BombBlastLightingWaltz — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 00:36:00 +0000

As a child, I asked the old man, who is an electrical engineer, ‘why there are no wireless welding guns?’. He replied, “Because the battery would weigh too much to hold.” That was back in the 70′s.

Although, Tesla may have had other ideas about that. Just ask the Morgans.

There is a crazy idea the Ancients used harmonics vibration to move massive stones. I can’t source it, call it a red herring but it’s possible. Sound can move objects or worse. Audio harmonic would not disrupt sedimentation or debris, merely vibrate it. Although that is most likely, not the case, in this case.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 00:22:00 +0000

But for God’s sake, don’t leave it running in your bedroom at night with the door closed.

By: BombBlastLightingWaltz

BombBlastLightingWaltz — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 00:19:00 +0000

HoverCouch at Burningman, now that’s talking.

By: sam1148

sam1148 — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 23:25:00 +0000

Does it have breaks?

Jane Stop this Crazy Thing!!

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 22:38:00 +0000

“Not being able to cross a deep ditch” is hardly an uncommon limitation for wheeled vehicles either.

Bullshit.

By: crummett

crummett — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 22:24:00 +0000

Did they go to Tatooine to test it?

By: Jamaica

Jamaica — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 21:41:00 +0000

Looks infinitely cooler than the one “powered by an ordinary vacuum cleaner motor!”
Can I still order one from the back page of my favorite comic?

By: Mike Perkowitz

Mike Perkowitz — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 20:21:00 +0000

Just replace the fans with those Dyson bladeless things. I’m sure that would work perfectly.

By: CHoldredge

CHoldredge — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 19:53:00 +0000

This is pretty clearly an updating of the Hiller Pawnee http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiller_VZ-1_Pawnee and Piasecki Airgeep http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piasecki_VZ-8_Airgeep They were both (fairly) stable without computer intervention, and flew well out of ground effect.

OTOH, they don’t seem to have a heck of a lot to recommend them over conventional helicopters. Unless one can be made to fit into ultralight size and power restrictions, you’d still need a pilots license. They may be easier to control, but “stick and throttle” flying is a small part of learning to be a responsible pilot. And I don’t see any way that it can autorotate, the helicopter equivalent of gliding to the ground, so if that engine quits (and it’s usually small and running flat-out to keep it light) pilot’s about to have a very, very bad day.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 19:42:00 +0000

One of the other videos clearly shows it tearing up hard-packed desert. It would leave a swath of destruction wherever it goes.

By: snagglepuss

snagglepuss — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 19:19:00 +0000

Righto – But even anti-grav vehicles should be displacing air as they settle to the ground. At least rustle the grass or something. Because as obsessive geeks, we DEMAND believability.

By: chaopoiesis

chaopoiesis — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 18:30:00 +0000

Not. The lack of audio is the giveaway – this thing is the leafblower FROM HELL.

By: bcsizemo

bcsizemo — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 17:42:00 +0000

I’ve always assumed most are anti-gravity based hover systems. Propulsion is a different matter. My irk has been more with large ships landing and creating hardly any surrounding movement, dust, grass, trees, ect.. I mean if you have what look like some type of thruster firing at the ground you kind of expect to see some kind of force reaction from it.

By: Roofmonkey

Roofmonkey — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 17:37:00 +0000

In high school I had a friend who was convinced that hoverboards were real. A real nice kid, sweet-tempered, a little odd, you know, artistic.
I asked him why they hadn’t been released yet since the movie had come out several years previously. I’ll never forget the look of crushed dreams on his guileless face. He plays in a heavy metal band now…
This looks plausible but totally useless in reality, so I’m calling B.S. (remember the Hyanide?).

By: snagglepuss

snagglepuss — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 17:36:00 +0000

I’ve always wondered about the debris cloud that these things are NOT supposed to create in the science fiction universe - Skimmer bikes, flying cars and whatnot were always nice, visible and in-focus.

Nobody’s ever established if they were directed-air powered, or some sort of limited anti-gravity, controlled-slingshot vehicle. Somebody should get on that.

As for this hovercraft – Kewl, but I won’t be really impressed until they come up with a stealth version.

By: andygates

andygates — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 17:32:00 +0000

Want! Want want want want want. *breathe*

By: nixiebunny

nixiebunny — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 17:22:00 +0000

Good Photoshop work – they even got the shadows right.

By: Preston Sturges

Preston Sturges — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 16:54:00 +0000

And yet a skateboard does better on the half pipe than a 1968 Buick Vista Cruiser station wagon.

By: Erik Hoover

Erik Hoover — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 16:53:00 +0000

You won’t be able to see it, just the dust cloud.