Haven’t you always dreamed of having your own private plane? You know, nothing fancy, just a little single engined low-wing tail-dragger that you could cruise around in? Imagine it: “Cubicle tower, this is USB Two-Zero-Oscar-Golf-Zulu holding short on runway Desk, requesting takeoff clearance…” Now you can have that little plane, although getting takeoff clearance might pose a bit of a problem, since the engine is powered by a USB cable and it’s designed to function as a fan. It’s quite a clever design if you ask me, and as an aviation enthusiast, I’d be proud to own one whether it flies or not. Besides, I’m confident that sooner or later, someone will come out with a more powerful wireless USB version that will actually be able to take off and strafe your coworkers. Soon to be available from Kikkerland. Meantime, if you’d like something a little more powerful, there’s always this.
I’ll be honest: in the realm of sci-fi tech, I’d always thought of the personal jet pack as showing up after the flying car, neither of which would be making a realistic appearance anytime soon. Turns out I’m dead wrong: the personal jet pack that you can buy is set to be released December 11 of this year.
It may or may not surprise you to hear that jet packs (of a sort) are old news. Bell Aerosystems had a personal rocket belt back in the 1960s, and a few different companies are currently offering the same hydrogen peroxide powered sort of thing, including Tecaeromex, from whom you can buy a working version for $250,000. The downside of rocket belts is that they only get a maximum of 30 seconds flight time, and the fuel is expensive and dangerous. Bell Aerospace started working on an actual jet pack in the late 60s, which had a hypothetical flying time of 25 minutes and a top speed of about 80 mph, but dropped the project due to it’s complexity.
Luckily for us, Jetpack International (who has lots of experience with conventional hydrogen peroxide powered rocket packs) is working on a turbine powered jet pack with an estimated flight time of 19 minutes, with a range of 27 miles at a max altitude of 250 ft. Best news is that it runs on easily available and cheap jet fuel. The $200,000 price tag includes a training course, although it’s unclear what certification (if any) is required to operate a jet pack. Below is a video of one of Jetpack International’s conventional rocket belts, to give you an idea of how these things perform:
European company Astrium (prime contractors for the Ariane 5 rocket)has unveiled plans for a business jet sized spaceplane that is able to take off and land from conventional runways, while taking four people 100km up to experience 3 minutes of weightlessness and one heck of a view. A while back, there was a lot of buzz about spaceplanes as potential replacements for the space shuttle. On the face of it, it seems like the best answer to space travel: up and back in one vehicle, no extraneous rockets or fuel tanks like the shuttle, and no carriers like Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipOne. The US government, despite billions of dollars and several tries including the X-30 and the X-33/VentureStar (all canceled) has finally settled on Orion, which is basically a reincarnation of the Apollo expendable rocket and capsule concept. So yes, even if it makes sense in terms of cost and lift potential, we’re still going backwards.
Leave it to the private sector to come through with a viable spaceplane design. Astrium’s propulsion system consists of two air breathing engines plus one rocket engine, making it a true single stage, reusable spaceplane. The timetable is fairly aggressive, with the first commercial flights scheduled for 2012 at between $200,000 and $250,000 each. Enjoy the video:
I knew it all along! The US Army is working on flying saucer technology! I just wouldn’t have predicted it to be a British import… Apparently the army has awarded a contract to a British firm JLN Labs to develop a machine that can demonstrate the ability to “hover close to its control-ground station, providing a surveillance capability for convoys, security force bases and other roles.” The design is pretty innovative, based on an aeronautical principle called the Coanda Effect.
The PAL-V is a hybrid tricycle and gyrocopter. On the road, it’s “as comfortable as a luxury car” while performing like a motorcycle. Notably, it adopts the tilting characteristics of the Carver One when it turns at speed. Find your way to an airstrip (or a long straight piece of road), and a tail pops out, rotors unfold, and off you go, climbing up to 4,000 feet (the bottom ceiling of commercial airspace) at speeds of up to 200 kph. Landing is vertical, and as an autogyro, you can land safely without an engine. It’s got a fuel efficient powerplant that handles both driving and flying, and can run on regular gas, biodiesel, or bioethanol. With active investors, the PAL-V should be available in 2 years for an undisclosed price.
Now, I’m all for the flying car concept, but as a practicing pilot, I have to say that I’m a little leery of it in practice. There are a bunch of very good reasons why getting a pilot’s license is a lot harder than getting a driver’s license, and despite the inherently stable characteristics of an autogyro, takeoff, landing, and navigation is always tricky. And unlike regular cars, which drive on roads, with a flying car, nobody is safe anywhere. Let’s hope these things get regulated effectively, or I’m building myself an underground nuke/tornado/flying tricycle shelter.
Slowly and steadily e-ink is making its way from a really cool tech demo to a really cool consumer-ready technology. The eFlyBook from Arinc is actually based on the iRex Iliad eReader but incorporates a whole library of electronic charts and flight documents provided by MyAirplane.com. These include the U.S. digitized terminal procedures, IFR high and low altitude enroute charts, U.S. airport facility directory, the FAR/AIM and a host of other documents that I would have no idea what to do with.
As a result the eFlyBook is obviously targeted at the flying community. In fact the device’s touchscreen even allows pilots to fill out forms and logs electronically so while we still don’t have the paperless office yet we’re definitely enroute to the paperless airplane. And since the eFlyBook is basically a re-branded Iliad it’s still capable of loading other documents including books and images.
The eFlyBook is currently available for $1499 which puts it well above the price point for Sony’s own eReader hardware but I assume that cost includes licensing for all of the included flight docs.
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By Andrew Liszewski
