Flying 'Motorbike'/Reliant Robin 'to take off next year' A radical "motorcycle" able to pop out a pair of wings and take to the skies will make its first flight next year, according to reports. Concept of the Switchblade 'sky bike' by Samson Motorworks More Trotters Independent Traders than Judge Dredd movie Lawmaster, really. The "Switchblade sky bike" from US firm Samson …
Where on earth (or in the sky) is the CoG of this thing? As far as I can see the centre of lift from the main wings is right at the back of the machine if it is as illustrated. I can't see how the tiny wings or main body could generate enough lift to make the difference, so that think looks destined for a nose-dive given that the pilot (at least) is a long way forwards.
Well, that's unless this is yet another half-baked artist impression owing more to form than function. Now we've never seen The Register feature those have we.
Looks like a variEze with oversize cockpit to accommodate the folded wings and ducted fan. Proportions are not so off actually. It may actually be able to fly. The drag from the cockpit will be much higher than on an Eze, but as the saying goes: "Pigs can fly, provided that they have been given a sufficient amount of thrust".
Well weighing in at 1400lb would certainly make it a car under european regs. Which would of course mean it would have to comply with all the various regulations for cars. Which would in itself probably add considerably to the weight. Which would probably keep it glued to the ground.
If US regulations are such that all you need is three wheels to qualify as a motorcycle I'm amazed there aren't a lot more three wheelers over there.
we'll see a modern version of "only fools and horses"
come on ladies get 'em while they're hot......
luvly Iphone 5G, complete in pink with lightweight tracking unit so you can always locate your 'ole man, or perhaps this lightweight netbook, optomised for online shopping, complete with list of fake credit cards numbers........
They're allowing $20K for the engine and avionics! That's a bit optimistic. It wouldn't even cover the 1000hr overhaul for a standard Lycoming aero-engine. Last year someone at our flying club dinged the prop of a Cherokee in a heavy landing. The engine repairs alone came to $28K.
(Black helicopter because their engines are even more expensive!)
...60mpg (estimated) is reasonable enough. I guess that is inferior Yankee gallon, which makes it 72-ish mpg or about 3.9 l/100km in real money.
Anyways, rip the wings off, lose the fan, the rest of the flight gubbins and that will improve. Probably be light enough to get classed as a motorcycle too. Bit like a C1 for two people.
Hmm...thought....clueless Volvo and BMW driving retards on "two" wheels....*shudder*
The drop in MPG from 60 to 22 doesn't sound like much of a problem. A 60 mile journey by road might only take 22 miles once you're airborne - so either way you'd still only use 1 gallon.
In fact, given the wayward state of some roads, a 60-mile ground journey could easily turn into a 10-mile journey - even better!
Lets just think about this for a second.
We have something called border controls. You need passports and suchlike to travel from one country to another. So lets say for example Mr Criminal has just robbed a bank nearby dover. All he has to do is find a small stretch of road and take off and pop over to france. No immigration, no security checks, no passport.
Now I know none of these so called flying cars are gonna be taking us from the uk to the usa or something like that. But do you really think governments are just gonna let people fly wherever they want whenever they want ? I don't think so. It's just too risky.
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