The amazing flying machine that nobody wanted.

reply to post by Stackpot


Safety concerns would be my first bet as to the reason this never took off! LoL

Might work these days considering the advances we have made regarding computer controlled flight.

anyone know what this cost and can you make a kit idea ? looks like it would be easy to back engineer one from plans but i want one of those suckers for getting home from the bar

YES! YES! YES!

No need for annoying replacement parts, easy on the tires
Can be stored indoors, so theft risk is reduced.
Could be anchored to sidewalk or specially made storefront hooks, perhaps locked with key and password when shopping.
I would happily give up my car in a heartbeat for one of these.
Someone please develop these.
I have so been waiting for this!
No need for trudging through snow, or digging out and scraping off buried cars..
Someone PLEASE develop this.
(Not suitable for drunks who would get tangled in overhead wires, lol)

Its like a sky segway

awesome!

Lets be honest... this is like the coolest thing ever. There'd a be a huge profit waiting for any business which can manufacture these for the public sector. I read something about a patent in the YouTube comments, perhaps people are just waiting for the patent to expire before they can legally sell their own builds.

I remember that thing. Looked sort of like the flying platforms at the start of old Jonny Quest episodes. I wondered what was going to happen to it, I guess it didn't pan out.

Sort of like the people launcher. Big pneumatic thing, they calculated your weight and the height of the building and shot you up there so that you just cleared the ledge and landed on the top. Only it didn't always work, and ended up being called the Wile Coyote machine. Some things aren't meant to see daylight.

A British businessman who bought the Segway company less than a year ago died after riding one of the scooters off a cliff and into a river near his Yorkshire estate.

And you guys think a flying segway with limited range that can only hold a 150lb passenger is a good idea?

ChaoticOrder
Lets be honest... this is like the coolest thing ever. There'd a be a huge profit waiting for any business which can manufacture these for the public sector. I read something about a patent in the YouTube comments, perhaps people are just waiting for the patent to expire before they can legally sell their own builds.

I think the class actions suits will make more money in the long run to be honest…

Why don't they sell these at walmart?

boncho

ChaoticOrder
Lets be honest... this is like the coolest thing ever. There'd a be a huge profit waiting for any business which can manufacture these for the public sector. I read something about a patent in the YouTube comments, perhaps people are just waiting for the patent to expire before they can legally sell their own builds.

I think the class actions suits will make more money in the long run to be honest…

Of course it would be dangerous, but snowboarding down huge mountains is a lot more dangerous imo. Does the snowboarder sue the manufacturer of the snowboard he uses when he breaks the majority of bones in his body? I see this craft as more of a recreational/sporting thing that would be used by people who are willing to risk a crash. Plus it could also be used out on the water so if you crash it shouldn't result in any injuries.

reply to post by ChaoticOrder


My train of thought leads me to believe that personal flight devices such as this one do not achieve their full potential or become available to the public due to the fact that no insurance company's would be willing to offer cover. I also imagine about 4 different licenses would be required to operate one of these things.

If we needed insurance for automobiles when they first arrived would they have become mainstream? I don't think so!

"They" simply bury new technology in red tape! How very bureaucratic! LoL

reply to post by ChaoticOrder

Of course it would be dangerous, but snowboarding down huge mountains is a lot more dangerous imo. Does the snowboarder sue the manufacturer of the snowboard he uses when he breaks the majority of bones in his body? I see this craft as more of a recreational/sporting thing that would be used by people who are willing to risk a crash. Plus it could also be used out on the water so if you crash it shouldn't result in any injuries.

Completely different in my opinion. Compare it to an airplane. A snowboard doesn't drop 50 feet into the air if it malfunctions.

reply to post by Bedlam

Sort of like the people launcher. Big pneumatic thing, they calculated your weight and the height of the building and shot you up there so that you just cleared the ledge and landed on the top. Only it didn't always work, and ended up being called the Wile Coyote machine. Some things aren't meant to see daylight.

Im in stitches. Please tell me this is real and you have a link??

I certainly agree that this should be available in today's market.

Doesn't look like it'd be that much fun in the rain or the snow though...

reply to post by Stackpot


They already have these things on the market for recreational use, just designed a bit differently. Link

I don't think it's a big mystery why designs like these don't become commercially viable - safety. Any company trying to bring something like this to the market would be on the hook for any number of things that could kill the owner/operator, and leave their company subject to all kinds of suits.

It might look good in a demo video put on for the military, but tech like this almost always has some feasibility issues keeping it off the market.

And just because it's not commercially feasible, doesn't mean a company should give up its patents or publish them for free. That's why you won't see "flying pulpit" plans sold from ads in the back of Popular Mechanics (but hey, you can still get your flying hovercraft built from lawnmower engines there!)

reply to post by boncho


Check out some skateboard crashes on mega ramps

50 feet is doable

Might hurt but you can survive

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


Isn't that sort of like saying car manufacturers would be on the hook for car crashes?

Ill sign the waiver

boncho
reply to post by Bedlam

 

Im in stitches. Please tell me this is real and you have a link??

SORDAC was playing around with it. I think I saw it in magazines after they canned it. I'll look around. But yeah, it was real.

eta: Jackpot. This isn't the one I saw, but it's real similar.

reply to post by Another_Nut


They are, when it's their negligence. In fact most safety innovations in autos came as a result of lawsuits.
Driven to Safety: How Litigation Spurred Auto Safety Innovations

Case in point, Toyota "sudden acceleration" problem resulted in numerous lawsuits against the company. You won't hear of these cases most of the time because manufacturer's often settle out of court to avoid the publicity. People have successfully sued over how a car was designed to be operated, let alone over any bonafide manufacturing defect.

Just Google "auto defect lawsuits", "automotive manufacturing lawsuits", etc. Now extrapolate the manufacturer's liability from autos to sketchy flying vehicles. Especially a design as 'out there' as this 'flying pulpit'. Guarantee the first person to buy and crash one of these would sue the company that made it out of existence.