3 ms·
No, worse. That thing would turn into the tumble dryer from hell with partial power. It has no blade pitch control (like a helicopter does), requiring power o
by pdelbarba 9y ago
No, worse. That thing would turn into the tumble dryer from hell with partial power. It has no blade pitch control (like a helicopter does), requiring power on the motors in all four corners to maintain stability.
The real emergency situation to worry about would be a total power failure. Failure of the individual electric motors will likely be extremely rare but a battery fire or controller failure could send this thing falling like a rock due to the lack of auto-rotation. It has a BRS chute but that won't do anything in the critical ~500ft band above ground level, too low to deploy normally. Additionally, I hope they've figured out how to guarantee safe chute deployment while inverted because of the tendency to tumble with no/partial power.
- pc86 9y agoBRS parachutes have been tested as low as 260' AGL at 187 knots (several times faster than this craft would ever go) and individuals have reported successful deployments below 100' AGL[0] The question of course is how quickly it can be deployed in this craft as the vertical speed will likely be much faster than a Cessna or Cirrus in the event of total power failure. [0] https://www.flyingmag.com/g00/how-it-works-brs-aircraft-parachute https://www.flyingmag.com/g00/how-it-works-brs-aircraft-para...
- pdelbarba 9y agoI can't imagine an inverted deployment at 100' would end well...
- mannykannot 9y agoFor a drogue-deployed parachute, horizontal speed helps, as the required travel through the air is accomplished faster, and therefore with less drop. BRS parachutes use a rocket to fully extend the lines, but there is still the matter of inflating the canopy.