3 ms·

Never heard of this before......this is, quite amazing. I wonder what the scenario for this is. You couldn't fly these in urban centers unless it was similar t

Never heard of this before......this is, quite amazing. I wonder what the scenario for this is. You couldn't fly these in urban centers unless it was similar to flying a helicopter, no? Also, I wonder how fuel efficient they are.

noobiemcfoob 7y ago
Fuel efficiency, noise, flight time, max and min speed and load. Depending on these and some more I can imagine plenty of scenarios. Park rangers and other areas that have difficult to access portions come to mind.
- noahl 7y ago
  That sounds like the current use case for helicopters.
  - noobiemcfoob 7y ago
    Piloting helicopters is complicated. One of the features touted here is simplicity to learn. It's also a lot smaller than most helicopters. But otherwise, yeah, that's a current use case of helicopters.
madengr 7y ago
Ditto. What's the advantage of flying 10 feet above the ground? Is it a true aircraft, or a surface effect vehicle?
- no_wizard 7y ago
  I could see the advantage of these in swamplands or the 'bushes' if you will (places like remote parts of Africa, South East Asia, parts of the Southern United States, Alaska, come to mind). But the practical use case I can't seem to envision yet. However, if the goal is to be able to fly these things like helicopters but get some sort of massive fuel advantage out of it, I could see them being used for certain types of deliveries if they can hold a substantial amount of cargo via an attachment or something.
- zaroth 7y ago
  I think the advantage is, primarily, that you can pretend that you are pod racing. Minor caveat, the top speed currently seems to be 20 mph.
- JPKab 7y ago
  I suspect this is purely for liability reasons.
trhway 7y ago
>Never heard of this before......this is, quite amazing. the development of human carrying N-copters has been picking up around the world like a forest fire, just search on Youtube. My favorite: https://youtu.be/EQK9m_OBVgY?t=22 https://youtu.be/EQK9m_OBVgY?t=22 hearing how bad the commute on 237, i think many would prefer the flying bathtub over the car :)
dole 7y ago
"The aircraft features pontoons and is designed for use over water, and it can fly between three and 10 feet above the surface with vertical take-off and landing capabilities." This is not the flying car we were promised. /s

noobiemcfoob 7y ago

Fuel efficiency, noise, flight time, max and min speed and load. Depending on these and some more I can imagine plenty of scenarios. Park rangers and other areas that have difficult to access portions come to mind.

noahl 7y ago
That sounds like the current use case for helicopters.
- noobiemcfoob 7y ago
  Piloting helicopters is complicated. One of the features touted here is simplicity to learn. It's also a lot smaller than most helicopters. But otherwise, yeah, that's a current use case of helicopters.

madengr 7y ago

Ditto. What's the advantage of flying 10 feet above the ground? Is it a true aircraft, or a surface effect vehicle?

no_wizard 7y ago
I could see the advantage of these in swamplands or the 'bushes' if you will (places like remote parts of Africa, South East Asia, parts of the Southern United States, Alaska, come to mind). But the practical use case I can't seem to envision yet. However, if the goal is to be able to fly these things like helicopters but get some sort of massive fuel advantage out of it, I could see them being used for certain types of deliveries if they can hold a substantial amount of cargo via an attachment or something.
zaroth 7y ago
I think the advantage is, primarily, that you can pretend that you are pod racing. Minor caveat, the top speed currently seems to be 20 mph.
JPKab 7y ago
I suspect this is purely for liability reasons.

trhway 7y ago

>Never heard of this before......this is, quite amazing. the development of human carrying N-copters has been picking up around the world like a forest fire, just search on Youtube. My favorite: https://youtu.be/EQK9m_OBVgY?t=22 https://youtu.be/EQK9m_OBVgY?t=22 hearing how bad the commute on 237, i think many would prefer the flying bathtub over the car :)

dole 7y ago

"The aircraft features pontoons and is designed for use over water, and it can fly between three and 10 feet above the surface with vertical take-off and landing capabilities." This is not the flying car we were promised. /s