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What everyone else said: the imagination was there, it's just now that technology has caught up. I'd been following this topic for the past year and literally j
by qqn 7y ago
What everyone else said: the imagination was there, it's just now that technology has caught up. I'd been following this topic for the past year and literally just today wrapped it all up by a blog post on the topic: https://spmx.ca/flyingcars https://spmx.ca/flyingcars.
The biggest surprise? That human-powered flight has been a thing since the 60s. Second and third place, respectively, are the twins who made a bathtub fly and the drone BASE jumper. Insane!
- JasonFruit 7y agoHuman-powered flight has been a thing since the 1930s! The earliest craft were only barely capable of unassisted takeoffs, but they made some surprising sustained flights after an assisted start. By the 60s, they were making real flights after unassisted takeoffs, and the 70s saw them with low-enough power consuption to complete turns and cross-country flights. Now we even have human-powered helicopters!
- peteretep 7y ago> drone BASE jumper This was less good than I was hoping. They start the guy off on a radio tower, drag him a few meters, and then he lets go.
- qqn 7y agoThe reason was safety: there is a minimal height required for the chute to open in time. Any fall below that and the jumper's toast. They had the fellow start on the tower to ensure he'd have time to pull the chute in case of any slip-up.