Lofty Rider: Man Builds a Working Hoverbike

[jaxgator]

Australian Chris Malloy has made an actual hoverbike that he claims can achieve speeds of 173 mph and altitudes in excess of 10,000 feet. Sounds like every "Star Wars" fan’s dream right?

Unfortunately, don’t expect to be dodging trees while blazing through the forest anytime soon. Thus far, it has done little more than hover three feet while tethered to the ground.

However, if and when it ever does become a viable form of transportation, you won’t need a license to pilot it, since it would be classified as an ultralight. And the final product could be as affordable as some higher-end motorcycles.

Who knows, maybe you will be crashing into trees and exploding sometime in the near future after all.

http://www.polls.newsvine.com/_vine/images/users/500/sean-fallon/6828247.jpg

[Kevin_73]

Kinda hard to fly 173mph at 10,000 feet with it tethered to the friggin earth.

:crazy:

I wonder if this guy is related to Paul Moller?

[jaxgator]

Kinda hard to fly 173mph at 10,000 feet with it tethered to the friggin earth.

:crazy:

I wonder if this guy is related to Paul Moller?

Don't know about the relationship but how the hell can you claim top speed and altitude if you've never gotten the damn thing off the ground more than 3 feet? :skep:

[Jobaka]

And the final product could be as affordable as some higher-end motorcycles.

It's the optional laser cannons that will put it out of reach of the average buyer.

[Low12s]

Must be something seriously wrong with it. I would have at least 10 foot tethers to move around a bit.

[Kevin_73]

Don't know about the relationship but how the hell can you claim top speed and altitude if you've never gotten the damn thing off the ground more than 3 feet? :skep:

Moller has been doing it for decades. :yesnod:
And he somehow manages to keep convincing enough investors so that he has enough money to convince then next dummy in line.

http://www.moller.com/

[Jobaka]

Must be something seriously wrong with it. I would have at least 10 foot tethers to move around a bit.

It looks top-heavy to me. Those short tethers are probably the only thing keeping it from rolling over upside down.

[jaxgator]

Moller has been doing it for decades. :yesnod:
And he somehow manages to keep convincing enough investors so that he has enough money to convince then next dummy in line.

http://www.moller.com/

Yeah, I've known about him and his fan pack for quite some time. And I don't understand how he does it with those investors. :crazy:

It looks top-heavy to me. Those short tethers are probably the only thing keeping it from rolling over upside down.

You'll damn sure never see me on a contraption like that. The Air Force tried to build something similar only it held 2 people sitting down inside it. It was unbelievably unstable IIRC.

[Uncle Pervey]

Well it looks more comfortable than the other ducted fan "jetpack" being developed down in Australia.

http://news.discovery.com/tech/2011/06/07/martin-jetpack-825x525.jpg
This thing has a parachute pack for power failures...

Inventor Readies 'Jetski for the Skies' : Discovery News (http://news.discovery.com/tech/inventor-readies-jetski-skies-110607.html)