Personal Flight

NASA competition offers green challenge for air travel

By Paul Lester

19:06 August 4, 2009 PDT

As we've seen with the ongoing X-Prize model, competitions can be a great way to provide incentive for technological advancements in transport. While the latest example, the Lunar X Prize, has its sight set on the heavens, NASA is running a competition with objectives a little closer to the ground. The Green Flight Challenge is enticing creative types with a USD$1.5 million prize in which designers need to create an aircraft that is low cost, quiet, has a short take-off, is 'road worthy' and gets excellent passenger-miles per gallon. Read More

Entecho's Hoverpod: the 3-seat, skirt-steered, 75mph VTOL flying saucer

By Loz Blain

07:35 May 4, 2009 PDT

We continue to be optimistic about the future of personal flight - and from flying cars to coaxial flying platforms, ion-powered jetpacks and more recreational solutions, plenty of innovative designs are striving for viability. We haven't seen anything like this one before though - Entecho has come up with an operating prototype of a sort of cylindrical fan-forced flying saucer, steered by directing the downward airflow through a flexible skirt that allows easy directional control. The blades are not exposed and move reasonably slowly, it's stable in flight and the system is remarkably simple from a mechanical point of view. It's also quite simple to fly using a joystick controller. Totally VTOL and with a small footprint, perhaps the Entecho Hoverpod might deliver as a practical and affordable personal flight solution. Read More

AeroQuad: the foldable, self-stabilizing VTOL personal flying platform

By Loz Blain

14:05 March 19, 2009 PDT

We've written before about the nifty flying carpet-style PAM Individual Lifting Vehicle - now it seems there's another self-stabilizing coaxial dual-rotor flying platform on the way. The AN-1 AeroQuad, from Spain's Aeris Naviter, boasts all the key advantages of the PAM VTOL platform - it's as easy to pilot as a Segway, it'll fly for up to 5 hours, and happily hover at 20-30 feet with a maximum payload of 200kg - making it very handy for crop spraying, firefighting, aerial photography, lifeguarding, rescue and border control in mountainous areas. The AeroQuad moves forward from the PAM design, though, in that it comes in both land- or water-based configurations, and either one is able to fold up after use to a size so small you only need a half-trailer to transport it. Read More

Water-propelled jetpack: could this be the one?

By Loz Blain

02:25 February 2, 2009 PST

We're nearly 10 years into the new millennium, and the stark reality facing science fiction fans is that we STILL don't have an affordable jetpack. Promising technologies like this ion-propelled, remotely-powered unit seem to pop up from time to time, but nothing materializes on the market. The guys at JetPack International have built a beauty of a machine that does exactly what you'd hope - but at USD$200,000 it's still way out of reach for most people. This one might not be, though. It's propelled by super-fast jets of water pumped up through a tube that connects the jetpack to an engine that sits under the surface of a body of water. By tethering the flyer to the ground, this device is able to vastly reduce the weight of the flying apparatus by leaving all the heavy fuel and engine components behind, and since you're flying around above the surface of the water, you've got a much softer landing if you fall. Most importantly, the device looks like exactly as much fun as you'd hope, and because there's nothing too complicated to it, we can't see it costing much more than a jet-ski if it goes into production. Excellent! Read More

Moller International's M200G Jetson flying vehicle goes on sale in 2009

By Darren Quick

00:42 July 21, 2008 PDT

July 20, 2008 As the rate of technological advances continues at an astonishing pace there’s probably one question that gets asked more than any other by the average person in the street – or the average person stuck in traffic anyway - why don’t we have flying cars yet? Well the simple answer is that developing a flying car is hard. But the long wait for the solution to car clogged streets could be coming to an end with Moller International announcing that it is in the process of completing its fourth M200 “Jetson” volantor airframe and it expects to complete forty of these fly-by-wire, multi-engine flying vehicles in 2009. Read More

The Parajet Skycar: Britain's zero-carbon flying dune buggy aims for Timbouctou

By Loz Blain

01:56 July 14, 2008 PDT

July 14, 2008 The race is well and truly on to develop a functional flying car, and innovators around the world are finding several different ways to accommodate the needs of a road-registerable flying vehicle. The Moller Skycar and Cell Craft G440 use complicated quad-turbine tilting jet engines to achieve VTOL and flight capability. The Terrafugia Transition and Skyblazer roadable aircraft have decided to go for a folding-wing convertible aeroplane design, and Larry Neal's Super Sky Cycle is a simple and cheap modification that turns a standard, safe gyroplane into a road-going trike. And now there's the Parajet Skycar, a Yamaha R1-engined, biodiesel-powered all-terrain dune buggy that's capable of extremely safe flight as a powered paraglider. The Skycar Expedition team plan to take the eye-catching vehicle from London to Timbouctou in 2009, using a combination of flight and driving to battle the tough Saharan terrain. There's a commuter model in the pipeline - and you won't need a pilot's license to fly it. Read More

Sportcopter Super Sport Gyroplane set to launch – bridging the gap between plane and helicopter

By Loz Blain

16:52 January 5, 2008 PST

January 6, 2008 Simple to build, easy to fly, faster than helicopters and arguably safer than anything else in the sky: gyroplanes are a long-overlooked segment of the personal aviation industry, but as innovators like Sportcopter bring the entry price down to family car levels, these fun little aircraft are finally starting to get some of the popularity they deserve. Sportcopter's highly anticipated Super Sport is currently undergoing flight testing - a roomy, weatherproof, fully enclosed twin-seater with space for cargo and a full set of controls and instrumentation for each seat, making it an ideal training craft, the agile little gyroplane is powered by a 2.5 litre Subaru engine producing 190hp and propelling it to well over 100mph with a range of between 300 and 400 miles. Read More

Sky-high designs for a flying car

By Loz Blain

20:35 December 13, 2007 PST

Nearly eight years into the 21st century and we still don't have flying cars… frankly, it's disgraceful. No point complaining about it though - while Dr. Paul Moller continues development of the intriguing and exciting M400 Skycar, others around the world are also working to turn the cogs that will set the personal flight revolution in motion. One of them is Italian Gino d'Ignazio Gizio, a helicopter pilot and designer whose Cell Craft designs are reminiscent of the Skycar with a few touches of his own. Read More

PAM's Individual Lifting Vehicle: the dual-rotor flying carpet

By Loz Blain

03:56 December 7, 2007 PST

While most of us think of the personal flight revolution as something that will transform a-to-b transport and commuting in our everyday life, others are looking at ways to use existing technology for specific purposes that can go to market immediately. PAM group's Individual Lifting Vehicle (ILV) is an intuitive flying platform that's roughly as easy to pilot as a Segway, shifting your weight as you stand right above the twin propellers. It's not a distance traveler, more of a compact levitation device designed for crop spraying, aerial movie videography, search and rescue and other short-range, low-altitude applications. With a theoretical maximum speed of around 60mph, the ILV could be a very effective tool within its design parameters. Read More

Cessna inundated with demand for new SkyCatcher

By Loz Blain

22:49 October 4, 2007 PDT

Own your own brand new Cessna for a touch over a hundred grand – it’s an offer many are finding too good to refuse. The Cessna SkyCatcher Light Sports Aircraft seems to be the right product at the right time – the all-metal, high-wing twin-seater monoplane is easy to fly (or learn to fly), very good looking and at a price point that's within a wallet’s stretch for aviation fans. Plus it has one of the most trusted names in aviation written down the side. Perhaps this is why it’s been selling like crazy since its July launch with the company now reporting orders for more than 850 aircraft. Read More

Drive, float or fly? Your choice with the affordable Ramphos amphibious flying boat

By Loz Blain

05:35 August 1, 2007 PDT

August 1, 2007 With disposable income levels running high, expensive hobbies like aviation are coming within the reach of more and more people – and hobby pilots are discovering that small planes are coming down to a price point on a par with a touring motorcycle or midrange car. Owning a small plane has its drawbacks though – storing and transporting them can be difficult, not to mention the fact that you need an airstrip to take off and land from. The Italian Ramphos, however, suffers none of these issues. It’s an amphibious flying boat that’s just as happy taking off and landing on water as on land with its retractable wheels. You can tow it around on a trailer, and like the best of late-night TV exercise equipment, it folds for easy storage. This purpose-built little 2-seater is effortlessly easy to fly, handles like a dream and offers a very affordable, practical and exhilarating way to explore the local lakes and coastlines with maximum thrills for minimum fuss. Read More

Electric sports plane the highlight of the e-flight initiative

By Loz Blain

July 30, 2007 With rising oil prices threatening to put sports aviation out of reach of the average enthusiast, innovators are looking at how the sport might be preserved for the next generation. Sonex and Aeroconversions are two such innovators and in partnership the two companies unveiled their three-prong e-Flight strategy at the recent AirVenture OshKosh trade show. An ethanol conversion of Aeroconversions’ AeroVee powerplant and efficiency enhancements for the engine took a back seat to the prototype electric Waiex aircraft introduced to an appreciative crowd. With battery technologies advancing by the day - gaining power, reliability, endurance and efficiency while constantly shedding size and weight - the partners believe the time is ripe to adapt the brushless Read More

The ion-propelled, remotely-powered jetpack

By Loz Blain

This has to be one of the most 'futuristic' developments we've seen in some time; a new U.S. patent has been awarded to a company that has plans for a safe, silent personal flight device using electromagnetic ion propulsion as its primary thrust generator and drawing its power wirelessly from earthbound inductive green power broadcast stations. California's Personal Flight Systems are taking a serious look at the future of personal flight, and the technology involved will leave you shaking your head. Read More

Gress Aerospace begins development of Personal Air Vehicle

By Mike Hanlon

April 20, 2007 We’ve been following developments at Gress Aerospace for several years now, as it has developed its unique control technology for advanced vertical take-off and landing platforms. If successful, the control technology greatly simplifies flying, offers increased stability and functionality and requires a much smaller footprint than a traditional helicopter, hence it has wide application in commercial, industrial, and consumer markets, particularly for transportation and surveillance. The technology allows 6-Axis orientation, and a much smaller platform size in VTOL aerial vehicles. During the past twelve months, Gress has successfully scaled its system from a 15%-scale platfrom to a 40%-scale platform, and now intends to press ahead with a 100%-scale platform, build and testing phase, during the next 36 months. Introduced within the three stage build plan will be a new hybrid power generation package allowing the vehicle increased endurance with minimal fuel consumption. Once unmanned flight has been demonstrated, Gress will target the manned light-aircraft industry with plans have for an automobile-sized single seat VTOL. Read More

The flying motorcycle - road-registered and available now

By Loz Blain

April 18, 2007 For more than 50 years, the media have been promising us the personal flight revolution; by 2000 we'd all be getting around in flying cars, cruising down the skyway then touching down, driving home and unloading the shopping. Sadly, most of us are still stuck down here in traffic, but one maverick aviator has successfully taken personal flight into his own hands with a road-registered, high-safety flying motorcycle. Read More

HyFish takes to the sky in Germany

By Loz Blain

April 12, 2007 When you're trying to design a more efficient airplane, where do you look for inspiration? Swiss inventor Koni Schafroth looked downward. Underwater, in fact. A scale model of his fuel cell-powered HyFish project, modeled on the shape of the ocean's fastest swimmer, took flight for the first time earlier this month. Read More

WINDREAM ONE - transatlantic crossing using natural power

By Mike Hanlon

March 21, 2007 Paris saw the official launch of the WINDREAM ONE campaign this morning, a project headed up by Peggy Bouchet and Stéphane Rousson, sponsored by the Theolia Group. This ambitious project intends to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a sail balloon driven by natural and renewable energy sources. The quest conjures up images of great aeronautical discoveries where the courage, perseverance and a slight dose of madness inhabiting the spirit of visionaries and adventurers opened up the skies for future generations. Read More

AeroTwin engine lands second patent

By Mike Hanlon

February 6, 2007 We first wrote about AirScooter two years ago, characterising the company’s low-cost, easy-to-fly, ultra-lightweight coaxial rotorcraft helicopter as “a helicopter for the home". Now the company is making headlines not just for its innovative helicopter but also for the helicopter’s powerplant – the AeroTwin four-stroke aircraft engine. The second U.S. patent granted for the engine includes 23 claims focusing on the innovative lightweight one-piece head/cylinder design and related circulation and cooling methods. The AeroTwin produces 65 hp at 4200 rpm, and has a smooth/flat torque curve ideal for a wide range of sport vehicles and military applications, filling the niche between high-end hobby craft and expensive military UAVs. The company’s hobby models have now been dropped to focus resources on the engine, UAV and AirScooter segments. The knowledge obtained from hobby development contributed to the design and performance of the Company’s six-foot coaxial G70 UAV. Read More

Eclipse delivers first Very Light Jet

By Mike Hanlon

January 19, 2007 Eclipse Aviation delivered the world’s first very light jet (VLJ) customer aircraft earlier this month, intent on clearing the waiting list of more than 2,500 aircraft. Given the company’s current facilities are designed to support the production of approximately 1,000 aircraft a year, it’s unlikely that joining the waiting list for the US$1.5 million Eclipse 500 will get you one this side of late 2009, but the market for very light jets seems to be getting a lot of attention and we suspect this is just the beginning of a whole new era of personal flight. Read More

Swiss Rocketman develops Rocketbelt with six minute flight duration

By Mike Hanlon

October 7, 2006 Exotic Thermo Engineering (aka the Swiss Rocketman, Arnold Neracher) looks set to put rocketbelts seriously on the map in the near future when he unveils a rocketbelt that will fly for a full six minutes. Neracher recently set a record for rocketbelt flight duration when one of his designs flew for a full minute, more than double the traditional maximum, but earlier this week he confirmed that he is constructing a rocketbelt that will fly for six minutes. Neracher is currently testing the new machine under tethered flight conditions with pilot Yves Rossi but did not confirm whether the video posted on his site was the machine he expected to fly for six minutes. A Swiss medical and chemical engineering consultant, Neracher has been working on rocket engines for two decades and even makes his own hydrogen peroxide fuel – it is his knowledge of exotic fuels which is believed to be the secret to the flight duration. His engines and advanced technologies have powered go-karts, bicycles (amazing video here), dragsters, motorcycles and jet belts previously, but if Neracher achieves this goal, and we have no reason to doubt him as he generally hits his targets, the rocketbelt could finally achieve viability and would almost certainly find military application. Building a viable rocketbelt was first attempted by the German Army during WWII as the "Himmelsturmer" (Skystormer) and the first working rocket belt was built by Bell for the U.S. Army in the 1950s. Bell’s rocketbelt created mainstream awareness in the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball and raised expectations of consumer versions when it was used in the opening ceremony of the 1984 Olympics. But 50 years after the Bell Rocket Belt was built, only a handful of people have flown a one, only one commercial version is available (at US$250,000) and only two companies (here and here) have successfully commercialised demonstrations. Neracher will change all that if he can achieve six minutes of powered flight. Gizmag’s Billy Paul recently attended the First Annual Rocketbelt Convention at the Niagara Falls Aerospace Museum in New York, USA. Read his report here. Read More

Hanging out at the First Annual Rocketbelt Convention

By Mike Hanlon

September 29, 2006 Last weekend Gizmag’s Billy Paul attended the First Annual Rocketbelt Convention at the Niagara Falls Aerospace Museum in New York, USA. Yes folks, you read it right, we said rocketbelt as in jet-pack, Buck Rogers, James Bond, the 1984 Olympics and Lost in Space. Believe it or not, these devices have been around for more than four decades with the first untethered flight performed on April 20, 1961 by Harold “Hal” Graham. During the inaugural flight, Graham flew the Bell rocketbelt a not-so-astounding distance of approximately 100 feet while only a few inches off the ground. Perhaps the anticlimactic nature of this device is the central reason that we are not all flying to work using rocketbelts. Nonetheless, enthusiasts and Bell Aerospace (or just Bell depending on the year) employees from all over the globe flew to New York on boring and very un-James-Bond-like commercial jets in order to attend this rather enigmatic event. Read More

The Rocketbelt Convention

By Mike Hanlon

August 13, 2006 Vaporware is software or hardware which is announced but fails to materialise. The term implies unwarranted optimism … that development is too early to support responsible statements about its completion date or even feasibility. The rocket belt is perhaps then, the world’s longest gestation vapourware, first entering the public consciousness in the 1920s through the newspaper-syndicated Buck Rogers scifi comic strip, and first attempted by the German Army during WWII as the Himmelsturmer (Skystormer). The first working rocket belt was built by Bell for the U.S. Army in the 1950s. It created mainstream awareness in the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball and raised expectations of consumer versions when it was used in the opening ceremony of the 1984 Olympics. But 50 years after the Bell Rocket Belt was built, only a handful of people have flown a rocketbelt, only one commercial version is available (at US$250,000) and only two companies (here and here) have successfully commercialised demonstrations. All that might change soon as a number of people have rocket belts under development and next month (September 23-24), there’s to be a Rocketbelt Convention at Niagara Aerospace Museum in New York which is to be attended by all the major players in the fledgling industry. Organised by Peter Gijsberts, the head of the Airwalker Society and curator of the most comprehensive and up-to-date rocketbelt information website, the RocketBelt Convention is compulsory attendance for all would-be Buck Rogers. Read More

The Terrafugia Transition - the first viable flying car?

By Mike Hanlon

An interesting new flying car is being launched this week at Oshkosh. The Transition is a Personal Air Vehicle (PAV) designed to make general aviation more practical for personal transportation. From start-up company Terrafugi, the Transition drives like a car on public roads and can transition into an aircraft at the nearest airport by lowering its 27-foot wings and taking off. As an aircraft it has a top speed of 130mph, a range of 500 miles and can carry a payload of 430 pounds. One stop gives you over a thousand miles of range inside eight hours. Then you land and fold up the wings and you’re back on the road. As Terrafugia Chief Operating Officer Anna Mracek explains, deposits are being taken at Oshkosh, “our anticipated purchase price is $148k, and a deposit of 5% of that anticipated price will secure your place in line, but not guarantee that exact price.” The Transition delivers 30 mpg in either car or plane mode and promises a true integrated roadable aircraft at an economically compelling price. A prototype is being constructed and deliveries will start in 2009. The Transition will be capable of driving at normal highway speeds, flying at speeds that approach the light sport aircraft limit, and park in a standard garage. The CEO and CTO of Terrafugia is Carl Dietrich – note that name as he’s been incredibly impressive in everything he’s ever attempted and this is an ambitious play. Carl will receive his PhD from MIT in Aeronautics and Astronautics this year. Carl received both his SB and SM degrees from the same department, winning all four out of four design competitions available to him then the golden globe for entrepreneurs, the prestigious $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize which annually recognizes one student for outstanding innovations. Read More

Designer Jet interiors for the rich and famous

By Mike Hanlon

March 23, 2006 If no two people are the same, then neither are two billionaires. So why is it that most VIP Interiors tend to favour a traditional concept, layout and style? This is fine if you’re a J.D. Rockefeller, (all leather chesterfields and walnut burr), but what if you’re a Versace or a Branson or even an Oprah?? Great wealth affords customers the opportunity to indulge themselves, to define an identity and style across a range of living environments from castles to Palazzos and megayachts. So why not VIP aircraft?? Read More

Eclipse Aviation begins production of its landmark Very Light Jet (VLJ)

By Mike Hanlon

April 1, 2006 The dream of Eclipse Aviation ‘s Vern Raburn has long been to bring the word "personal" into aviation, by building an affordable very-light jet , enabling commercial air passengers to move directly between cities and allowing pilot owners to enter the world of jet-powered aviation. Earlier this month production commenced on the first of 2350 Eclipse 500 jet that have been ordered with non-refundable deposits – more than US$3 billion worth of orders. Output is booked to 2010, although there are some delivery slots for new orders from the third quarter of 2008. Most significantly, nearly one third of the orders are from owner-pilots - 750 in total. Those who paid their deposit early will score the 375 knot, six occupant jet for just US$1,000,000. Those who want to join the queue now will wait a bit less time for their Eclipse 500 but will pay US$1,295,000. Even at that price, the Eclipse 500 is far cheaper than anything competitive and has the lowest operating cost per mile of any jet. Whatsmore, this extraordinary jet gives you access to more than 10,000 airports in the U.S. Read More