Australian Unveils Prototype Hoverbike

[The Lugz]

yes, props roughly that diameter could plausibly lift a human with an engine that small assuming it's reasonably high performance

and the reason i know that for a fact is there is an engine powered jet-pack almost exactly the same size that uses fans

IS that device functional?
i'd say there's no reason anything in that photo should be fake

i do not believe any of the claims on it's performance they make no sense
10,000 feet is way too high for a number of reasons: the engine would produce a fraction of it's usual bhp if it is not fitted with a huge air compressor ( and i mean big to process the amount of air an engine breathes )
i know a 50 hp engine without a compressor produces around 20 hp at 17000 feet,
( bit of trivia top-gear mentioned once )
so for fairness sake i'll assume only 1/4 is lost at 10,000
but i have no idea how it scales if it uses cube or square law or if there are pockets or layers of air but it's clearly a huge effect

they claim 270kg m.g.w ( presumably rider and fuel )
and only 295 maximum thrust
i make that 25 kilos overhead, so assuming 1/4 loss in power ( ignoring thin air displacement issues for the moment )
at 10,000 ft that's a positive weight of 48.75 kilos

now, that's extremely rough maths based on quickly rounded, numbers
but i allowed more than a fair margin for error
if anyone can find better ones feel free to correct me i am not a mathematician
( although i am an engineer )
but you can see it's very close to it's maximum thrust with a normal ish weight rider and fuel at any serious altitude it's falling like a sack of spuds due to oxygen deprivation and even if you fit a compressor to it ( and waste more power ) you're still blowing thin air down to push you up
so this is just setting sail for an epic fail

3,000 feet, perhaps

and 170 mph is obscenely fast, and that hover-bike has to be massively un-aerodynamic
( far less than a normal bike due to the rider and bike not being in-line )
and it's wasting huge amounts of it's power just holding itself up so where does that magic force come from?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_YZF-R6
that is using almost the same amount of power and directing it all into forward momentum and it barely scrapes 170
so,
unless they mean when it flips upside down and forces itself into the ground i just don't see how this is remotely plausible
the claims on this thing are basically unbelievable imo

at this point i'd call bs on it even being stable if it needs cords to hold it straight for a picture

( seriously, why is it tethered? i could do that with a pc fan and a small 12v battery )

my prognosis:
'fly', sure
fly well? hell no
that's my opinion and rationale, anyway.

 

[remedyX]

Here's a big problem..

How does it achieve forward motion for its 170mph speed? The 'lifting' fans are on a fixed mounting and the housing they're contained it would disrupt airflow if they were used for forward flight.

That's what I'm wondering.

I mean I guess the fans could rotate about an axis with two joints, but then any forward force is going to make it both unstable and have less upward force. Once the craft is moving, aerodynamics come into play and I guess maybe it could be designed to generate lift from air passing underneath - but with a rider on top and those fans where they are - I doubt it.

So perhaps the entire craft tilts in the same way a helicopter does. That would be asking for trouble with those two exposed fans.

I'm sceptical. Sure he might be able to get it to lift for a few minutes before running out of power or the engine dying, but that's hardly a hovercraft and more of a hover-tray.

 

[remedyX]

As the site points out, here in the US the hoverbike would be classified as an "ultralight," meaning that prospective riders (pilots?) would not need a pilot's license.

Okay, I did not just read that. A flying vehicle is not the same as a ground vehicle since it is designed to go vertically in the air, why the hell wouldn't it need its own license? Also consider that it can apparently go almost twice as fast as a normal car. I can already picture it...

You do realise one can theoretically get their pilots license before their drivers license? Right? You're not just making stuff up?

If this works I know how I'm going to die

Flawless victory

 

[Phishfood]

I'm sure it exists and can be made to work, the question is practicallity.

1) Seems noisy
2) Range
3) Actual transport ability. Can it get up to 10,000 feet with an overweight IT guy on it? Can it get the shopping home?
4) Fuel - With any aircraft power to weight is vital. So, is this running off something exotic or a standard petrol engine?



As proof that such things are at least possible I offer this awesome gadget:
http://www.firebox.com/product/3579/JetLev-Flyer

 

[notimeforlulz]

Finally, a number of impressive photos [http://www.hover-bike.com/videos.html], and based on the pixels and my having seen a number of photoshops in the past, none seem to have been altered -- but again, I'm no expert.

There's video of it right on the main page proving the machine exists, whether it actually works like the picture is another story.

Amazingly enough, he's some wind meter action going on there, I would like to see the data he got off of that.

 

[Jewrean]

Some awesome Australian inventions:
http://www.whitehat.com.au/australia/Inventions/InventionsA.html

If you can't be bothered reading it some inventions include:

- Refrigeration
- WiFi
- Pacemakers
- Google Maps
- Freestyle swimming
- Dual Flush toilets

EVERYONE! Stop being so pessimistic! Jeez! There have been fuckloads of dipshits like you in the world that have doubted inventions would work before their release! Have a bit of faith. I for one (like normal people should be) am excited for what the future holds. If this turns out to be a flop... so be it. If it turns out to be awesome... THEN AWESOME! But my point is for all you idiots screaming "FAKE!" or "PICS OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN ROFL LMAO!" you guys are missing the whole point of intellectual and scientific discovery. Mistakes will be made. Our limits will be tested. But by god let the guy have his passion because it could turn out to be marvelous.

 

[ezeroast]

We've had them for a while now [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hovercraft]

ummm, not quite the same thing

 

[notimeforlulz]

Looks like a ground effect vehicle. Basically, it's sort of like a helicopter, but the job is easier because you actually are pushing against the ground, to an extent. Seeing as they don't have any non-tethered images, I'm going to join castlewise in wondering how they plan to address the stability issues that I'd expect to crop up. I suppose it's possible that, with the blades wider than the rider, it's not quite as much of a problem.

It doesn't look like a ground effect vehicle. Ground effect vehicles have their fans contained inside the vehicle so the vehicle look slick, or they have a whole bunch of small exposed fans so that once again the vehicle can look slick. I basically look at alot of hovercraft and go '20ft ceiling' but with this one, with it's large exposed props, I'm not thinking that. Because he's got the rotors exposed, if it gets up to speed (like, going forward and staying aloft thanks to ground effect) the amount of lift it's generating increases the faster it goes. So it could be stuck with the ground effect up to say, 30/35mph. Gotta get me some little fans to test the stability of this platform for myself. I don't think it'll be very stable going sideways, but forwards and back, I think it might be pretty stable, if it's stable at all.

And let me just get back to the ground effect stuff again. Yes engineers trying to make flying cars for the last 40 years haven't succeeded in getting lift without it's help. I personally blame that on the total morons who have zero sense of aeronautical engineering having gotten all the fame and funding, a.k.a. MOLLER. Just looking at Moller's vehicles again... Yup, those things aren't going anywhere.


It's basically these:

VERSUS this:

[http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/717/hoverbikeimgp3825large.jpg/]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us [http://imageshack.us]

As you can see from the relative size of the lift generators to the vehicles alone. This guy has something that could work, where as Moller is clearly a scam artist more than he is an engineer.


EDIT: Needs more than twin bladed props though, I doubt there's enough lift there, even when exploiting the additional lift gained from speed. That being said, it's 1 engineering flaw versus god knows how many in Moller's fail boat.

EDIT2: The hoverbike is using a bicycle engine I think, that's another flaw, switch to some turbo props, as in 2 turbo props.

 

[TheScientificIssole]

Let the future of Bart Simpson begin!
RADICAL!

 

[Dirkie]

Even if the 10.000 feet of altitude an be reached, i still see a wee bit of a problem, the center of gravity of this machine seems a bit high to me, looks unstable as can be.
Flipping over and ending up falling even faster than a brick from that height will certainly leave a dent.

 

[StormShaun]

Looks like a ground effect vehicle. Basically, it's sort of like a helicopter, but the job is easier because you actually are pushing against the ground, to an extent. Seeing as they don't have any non-tethered images, I'm going to join castlewise in wondering how they plan to address the stability issues that I'd expect to crop up. I suppose it's possible that, with the blades wider than the rider, it's not quite as much of a problem.

It doesn't look like a ground effect vehicle. Ground effect vehicles have their fans contained inside the vehicle so the vehicle look slick, or they have a whole bunch of small exposed fans so that once again the vehicle can look slick. I basically look at alot of hovercraft and go '20ft ceiling' but with this one, with it's large exposed props, I'm not thinking that. Because he's got the rotors exposed, if it gets up to speed (like, going forward and staying aloft thanks to ground effect) the amount of lift it's generating increases the faster it goes. So it could be stuck with the ground effect up to say, 30/35mph. Gotta get me some little fans to test the stability of this platform for myself. I don't think it'll be very stable going sideways, but forwards and back, I think it might be pretty stable, if it's stable at all.

And let me just get back to the ground effect stuff again. Yes engineers trying to make flying cars for the last 40 years haven't succeeded in getting lift without it's help. I personally blame that on the total morons who have zero sense of aeronautical engineering having gotten all the fame and funding, a.k.a. MOLLER. Just looking at Moller's vehicles again... Yup, those things aren't going anywhere.


It's basically these:

VERSUS this:

[http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/717/hoverbikeimgp3825large.jpg/]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us [http://imageshack.us]

As you can see from the relative size of the lift generators to the vehicles alone. This guy has something that could work, where as Moller is clearly a scam artist more than he is an engineer.


EDIT: Needs more than twin bladed props though, I doubt there's enough lift there, even when exploiting the additional lift gained from speed. That being said, it's 1 engineering flaw versus god knows how many in Moller's fail boat.

EDIT2: The hoverbike is using a bicycle engine I think, that's another flaw, switch to some turbo props, as in 2 turbo props.

Out of both of these images, I cant wait for both of them, I would prefer the car, also all Australia needs is now better internet, to realese these hover cars and bikes, a better classification govt...thats it, mabey.

 

[Harveypot]

WANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANTWANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the coolest thing I have seen since life-size daleks.

 

[VondeVon]

I just want to know about the breaking system. Reverse-directed fans? Rear parachutes? A little rubber ball on a stick that you can stick in the ground (if you're close enough) like a Rollerblade?

 

[SamuelT]

Making things go up isn't that big a challenge. Just stick a giant fan under it and it'll go up. But to stabilise the thing, to make it go forward and steer and land without crashing, that's the big challenge. Sceptical sceptic is sceptical.

 

[EvolutionKills]

Australian Unveils Prototype Hoverbike

As the site points out, here in the US the hoverbike would be classified as an "ultralight," meaning that prospective riders (pilots?) would not need a pilot's license.

Thank goodness. If all you needed was a motorcycle license or something, that would be terrible. Where I live, there are a TON of weekend warrior motorcyclists, and most of them can barely ride. They really easy to spot too. They all ride Harley-Davidson's, are decked out in leather chaps and vests, and usually don't wear helmets. Dead giveaways are when they hold in the clutch with their left hand at a stop light, and never shift the bike down into neutral. They just keep holding in the clutch, and roach their transmissions. Also, if you ever see somebody riding a bike with full leather gear, and wearing loafers...

A lot of these morons just get their permits renewed every year and never even bother to get a license. These people are bad enough on the ground, we don't need them in the air too. We already have flying assholes, they're called 'Seagulls'.

 

[Aerograt]

*nvm*

 

[PyroZombie]

It's the Australium I tell you.

 

[siahsargus]

I'm with everyone else... I'm skeptical, but I DO WANT HOVERING THINGS!!!!

For christsake I wish someone would make a working Back To The Future hoverboard ><

In the movie, the pink board was a real hoverboard.