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I know you've been around aviation and have studied relevant fields, but what have you actually built? Nothing personal, of course, but personal flight is the

I know you've been around aviation and have studied relevant fields, but what have you actually built? Nothing personal, of course, but personal flight is the sort of domain which attracts many people who lack the knowledge or ability to design and build a product that respects the laws of physics. :) It would help your pitch if you could describe something flight-related that you have designed and built yourself, or if you told us that you have a prospective co-founder who has done so.

6stringmerc 10y ago
No personal offense taken, and the first thing on my agenda once I figure out how to source the material of size on my budget is to build (carve) a full-scale model of the wing from styrofoam. A material type similar to toy foam gliders[0]. Using the academic research for the proprietary design and the following guides, there is a lot of math involved and resources to incorporate: https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/WindTunnel/Activities/lift_formula.html https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/WindTunnel/Activities/lift... http://m-selig.ae.illinois.edu/ads_faq.html http://m-selig.ae.illinois.edu/ads_faq.html Determined number crunching in the design will guide the dimensions and shape of the airfoil as much as I can humanly do with accuracy. However, due to the higher lift coefficient and lower stall point identified in the approach, there's some wiggle room I hope. I work a lot with my hands, do frequent sculpture projects, and have a basic mechanical aptitude. Later comes the decision of the material / approach to construction of an actual load bearing unit (spar and canvas or composite molding technique) and adding control surfaces, with associated electronics. Likely sourced from RC industry. A couple close associates that would consult on this have background in RC and UAV development (pre-consumer interest), small-scale electronics (Pi, etc), associated coding work, and some experience with making composite (carbon fiber) type parts. After watching years of the Moller Skycar hype[1], attempts at satisfying road and flight worthiness with flying cars, the Hoverbike[2], and the Martin Jetpack[3] I can totally understand the notion to think of this concept as vaporware. As you mentioned, physics doesn't welcome humans flying through the air. What present technology offers though - in materials and computing power for stability controls in extremely small Moore's Law packages and this academic research - is quite an exciting time to consider new possibilities. To me, I think it should be an obvious 'given' that creating the wing unit as a tow-flight recreational idea will work, simply because mouting it to a pickup truck and mashing on the gas will provide plenty of thrust. It works with parachutes and boats - a seriously inefficient drag system - so while orders of magnitude potentially more dangerous, I don't see why the tow-flight implementation won't work as described. It's from this development that the next - powered flight - would be considered. The amount of testing and development that this requires before putting a human on it is a genuine concern. Then again, certain types of people put on wingsuits[4] and jump out of airplanes or cliff tops. From time to time I wonder if I'm genuinely both smart and crazy enough to really put my mind to building it...but if I get started...no turning back! [0] http://www.guillowtoys.com/uploads/2/9/7/9/29799789/315980821_orig.jpg?510 http://www.guillowtoys.com/uploads/2/9/7/9/29799789/31598082... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moller_M400_Skycar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moller_M400_Skycar [2] http://www.hover-bike.com/MA/the-hoverbike/how-you-can-own-it/ http://www.hover-bike.com/MA/the-hoverbike/how-you-can-own-i... [3] http://www.military.com/video/aircraft/pilotless-aircraft/the-worlds-first-practical-jetpack/3645048620001 http://www.military.com/video/aircraft/pilotless-aircraft/th... [4] http://s3.amazonaws.com/iexplore_web/images/assets/000/002/231/original/Richard_Schneider.jpg?1438798267 http://s3.amazonaws.com/iexplore_web/images/assets/000/002/2...

6stringmerc 10y ago

No personal offense taken, and the first thing on my agenda once I figure out how to source the material of size on my budget is to build (carve) a full-scale model of the wing from styrofoam. A material type similar to toy foam gliders[0]. Using the academic research for the proprietary design and the following guides, there is a lot of math involved and resources to incorporate: https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/WindTunnel/Activities/lift_formula.html https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/WindTunnel/Activities/lift... http://m-selig.ae.illinois.edu/ads_faq.html http://m-selig.ae.illinois.edu/ads_faq.html Determined number crunching in the design will guide the dimensions and shape of the airfoil as much as I can humanly do with accuracy. However, due to the higher lift coefficient and lower stall point identified in the approach, there's some wiggle room I hope. I work a lot with my hands, do frequent sculpture projects, and have a basic mechanical aptitude. Later comes the decision of the material / approach to construction of an actual load bearing unit (spar and canvas or composite molding technique) and adding control surfaces, with associated electronics. Likely sourced from RC industry. A couple close associates that would consult on this have background in RC and UAV development (pre-consumer interest), small-scale electronics (Pi, etc), associated coding work, and some experience with making composite (carbon fiber) type parts. After watching years of the Moller Skycar hype[1], attempts at satisfying road and flight worthiness with flying cars, the Hoverbike[2], and the Martin Jetpack[3] I can totally understand the notion to think of this concept as vaporware. As you mentioned, physics doesn't welcome humans flying through the air. What present technology offers though - in materials and computing power for stability controls in extremely small Moore's Law packages and this academic research - is quite an exciting time to consider new possibilities. To me, I think it should be an obvious 'given' that creating the wing unit as a tow-flight recreational idea will work, simply because mouting it to a pickup truck and mashing on the gas will provide plenty of thrust. It works with parachutes and boats - a seriously inefficient drag system - so while orders of magnitude potentially more dangerous, I don't see why the tow-flight implementation won't work as described. It's from this development that the next - powered flight - would be considered. The amount of testing and development that this requires before putting a human on it is a genuine concern. Then again, certain types of people put on wingsuits[4] and jump out of airplanes or cliff tops. From time to time I wonder if I'm genuinely both smart and crazy enough to really put my mind to building it...but if I get started...no turning back! [0] http://www.guillowtoys.com/uploads/2/9/7/9/29799789/315980821_orig.jpg?510 http://www.guillowtoys.com/uploads/2/9/7/9/29799789/31598082... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moller_M400_Skycar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moller_M400_Skycar [2] http://www.hover-bike.com/MA/the-hoverbike/how-you-can-own-it/ http://www.hover-bike.com/MA/the-hoverbike/how-you-can-own-i... [3] http://www.military.com/video/aircraft/pilotless-aircraft/the-worlds-first-practical-jetpack/3645048620001 http://www.military.com/video/aircraft/pilotless-aircraft/th... [4] http://s3.amazonaws.com/iexplore_web/images/assets/000/002/231/original/Richard_Schneider.jpg?1438798267 http://s3.amazonaws.com/iexplore_web/images/assets/000/002/2...