I'm not an aersoapce engineer (yet), but from what I have learned so far, this partuclar machine has a host of little life-threatening issues that would make it something to stay away from, that is, if it is in fact real.
The biggest problem I see is stability and control.
- Poor rolling characteristics due to longitudinal weight distribution.
- In the event of a single engine failure or loss of power, an unrecoverable pitching roll would result.
- The turning thrusters look as though they would provide for very slow turns. That's all well and good until a tight turn is needed, but this machine looks to be incapable of such things as a roll of 90 degrees or greater would likely result in a crash.
- Stall characteristics????
WHAT stall characteristics! There are ZERO lifting surfaces on this thing. Flying by propulsive force alone is a bad idea!
I cannot stress this enough!
Ultralight or not, the FAA would
never allow these in the skies.
I am also very skeptical of their claim that it can reach 10,000 feet.
This machine looks akin to balancing on a surfboard at 160mph and 120 feet off the ground. That is NOT my idea of safe!
There are reasons why airplanes evolved the way they did - with wings and tails. Sure, you can break from convention (see the B-2, X-36, and the V-22), but doing so creates new problems; some of which require complex solutions.
In fact, we can look to the V-22 as an example of how this machine is a bad idea. Let's take a look at the V-22.
This particular aircraft has a tilt-rotor design that allows it to transition between a helicopter and conventional airplane configuration. For the sake of this discussion, we will focus on it's engines in the helicopter configuration with respect to stability and control.
What do you imagine would happen if an engine on this aircraft were to fail or lose power while it is in it's, "Helicopter," mode? It would roll and crash.
Here is an example of what happened to the V-22 during early testing.
See any similarities???
The bike would likely suffer from the same stability issues due to its configuration.
The problems with the V-22 were (mostly) ironed out after a decade or so of rethinking the design and billions of dollars in R&D. Now, the V-22 compensates for engine failure or loss of power with a complex transmission system. In the event of an engine failure, a single engine is used to drive
both rotors with a significant loss of performance.
DISCLAIMER: I do not know enough about the hoverbike to draw any specific conclusions. I have also not yet completed my AE degree. However, I have enough knowledge about what should fly and shouldn't (or shouldn't be allowed to) in order to draw my own conclusions and/or draw parallels to existing aircraft. There also may have been some things that I have overlooked. I put this together fairly quickly.
