Re: Flying MBs
I'd like to mention some things I haven't seen in this "Oh so interesting" thread.
Back when people were first talking about flying cars there was one unique concept:
What made it unique was that the wing and engine sit on supports at an airport awaiting the owner of such a special car (appearently made by the same company) to show up and rent the wing & motor. The connection was thru a sunroof where the flight controls were made accessable. When flown and landed at another designated airport anywhere across the country, the motorist could then drive on to his final destination leaving the wing/motor behind. Kinda like the U-haul trailer system today. I'm guessing the pilot of such a system would have to have the special car and rating with the company who had the type cetification etc. The last revival of this concept I've seen was in the mid 1980's using the little Honda CRX. I doubt you could do this today but I still see amazing possibilities with it in larger frontier countries such as Australia, Africa, South America etc.
So, to extend the idea to MB's ?
Well once again.....in the 1950's (since this hasn't been mentioned with rotary wings yet) there was a movement for JetTip rotors where counter torquing small rotors aft weren't required. Some very interesting little 2 seat military observation platforms evolved. (but they were loud) With todays technology
for canceling noise, however, these noise parameters may be better delt with. I could even see a "syncropter" design (the invention of WW2 by Anton Flettner Fl 265 Kolibri or "Hummingbird") with the jet tips as a viable solution.
So.....could a tipjet rotory be configured such that a MB'er could pull under it as it sits waiting. The pilot hook up securely into the flying copter frame, start up and fly a short distance to cross a barrier such as a river in order to land and dismount from the copter where he could then go on his trip to work? I can imagine a tube frame for the copter where the bike rider uses the foot controls on it's frame resting his feet on them while in flight yet still sitting on the bike seat. The flight controls for the copter would be clustered on the hand controls so that it could even hover for a landing without having to try and use the bicycle handelbars
at the same time. Of course there would be a wind screen on the copter but other wise be an open air frame. Simple, light in weight. I cold see an electric motor/generator used to accelerate the rotor up to where it could sustain operation of the tip jets....and whatever type of fuel used would be adequate for a few minutes of flight time. And yes it could have even have floats if necessary.
But in this scenerio you have a powered rotor platform that's used to take you where the bike can go on it's journey and then back. I don't envision this as a cross country concept. Just a means to get from one area to another so one could enjoy the efficiency of MB'ing
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