Australian-Built Hoverbike Prepares For Takeoff

Zothecula writes "Adventurous motorcyclists might be familiar with the thrill of getting airborne at the top of a rise, but the Hoverbike is set to take catching some air to a whole new level. With a 1170 cc 4-stroke engine delivering 80 kW driving two ducted propellers, the inventor of the Hoverbike, Chris Malloy, says with its high thrust to weight ratio, the Hoverbike should be able to reach an estimated height of more than 10,000 feet and reach an indicated airspeed of 150 knots (278 km/h or 173 mph). At the moment these are only theoretical figures as the Hoverbike hasn't been put through its paces yet, but Malloy has constructed a prototype Hoverbike and plans to conduct real world flight tests in a couple of months."

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Lack of backup

[bragr]

Airplanes have to ability to glide to an extent, helicopters can auto-rotate. I seriously doubt that the rotors on this are big enough to auto-rotate, or that the designer made the calculations necessarily in order to design something that can auto-rotate.

You could use a parachute but parachutes take time to deploy and slow your decent so while effective at higher altitudes, at lower altitudes, like say the altitude at which you would be herding cattle, an engine failure would leave you heading towards the ground without enough time to deploy the chute.

I'd fly this is there were 2 engines such that one engine could power both fans, and 1 engine had enough power to at least hover and make a safe decent. Even then, I'd still probably bring a parachute.

Re:to clarify

[blair1q]

Is your average helicopter ducted? No? Then its aerodynamics are not the aerodynamic comparison you're looking for.

This thing is a lot lighter than your average helo, and the ducting makes it more efficient in generating downforce.

Which isn't to say its claim of 10 Kft isn't an unsupportable guess. Just that your arguments are not sufficient to refute it.

Re:to clarify

[modecx]

Because a UH-60 with a max takeoff weight of over 20,000lbs, and a sectional area of a school bus is at all comparable to a single-seater with a max takeoff weight of 600lbs.

In other news, scientists say a 600cc sportbike is faster than an unladen Freightliner tractor powered by a 600 horse Detroit Diesel. Who could have guessed.