The amazing flying machine that nobody wanted.

reply to post by JohnnySasaki


I had a flashback to a Jonny Quest cartoon

reply to post by Stackpot


This is simular to the " Puffin" Personal VOL Rotor Aircraft that Never went beyond the Experimental Stage .


www.youtube.com...

I cant believe how many people would risk their lives flying around the skies in Wheely Bins - thank god for Red Tape and legislation I say.

Its bad enough having to look right and left but not up too. I dont want your poorly maintained contraptions falling on my head whilst out taking a leasurly stroll in the country.

I can imaging several US contributors to this site welding AR-14s to the side to go hunting.

These were invented for Darwin - I take your Segway and give you the Electric Buggy:

www.youtube.com...

reply to post by IamSirDrinksalot


No way dude we have AR-15s.

reply to post by Stackpot

The Story behind the Williams X-Jet.
Dr. Williams was the genius behind the Chrysler Turbine Car. He also did major consulting on the Chrysler Turbine Tank(XM-1), now the Abrams Tank. My Dad was a Marketing manager for General Electric's Turbine Power Division, and was a big fan of Dr. Williams endeavors. When my Dad left GE, he started his own Marketing Company in Detroit. Between these two facts, my Dad struck up a friendship with Dr. Williams, and took him and his small garage-sized company in as a client("The Williams and Sons Company).
Even thought Dr. Williams was a very serious scientist, he always dreamed of his personal jet flight machine. He made these prototypes and proposed them to the Military, who did not exactly decline them totally.
What made these work was their unique engine design. The power to weight ratio was incredible. The problem was that they only functioned no more than 8-10 hours before catastrophic failure. These prototypes have their engines heavily shielded, as your feet straddle the engine. After 8-10 hours the engines had to be replaced. If an engine did fail, you could lose your legs/feet. The Military did make a counter-offer: They still were interested in buying as many engines as Williams could make. Dr. Williams informed them he could not get them to last more than 10 hours. With what they had in mind, they did not need them to last more than 7-10 hours. Those engines now power the Tommahawk and Air-Force ALCM Cruise Missiles. The "Williams and Sons Co." is now Williams International. Dr. Williams got his flight dream, and then some.
When I was young, I once asked my Dad if UFO's were real. His reply was "Yes, Dr. Williams has two of them in his garage registered as snowmobiles!".

reply to post by boncho


the WASP has 30+ minutes flight time.
The jet pack-about 30 seconds.

I could see this.
Your in morning rush hour and an accident ahead has caused grid lock.
When you finally arrive at work, 45 minutes later; late, you are already stressed and this is the second day in a row!

but with your WASP, you take off from your driveway (launch pad), as the crow flys, you're there in 7 minutes.
10 if you stop for a latte.

On your commute home, you fill up in your neighborhood and ready for tomorrow.

No harness and all that. Just a helmet and goggles.

You park in parking garages designated for WASP, or in your private business launch pad.

Need to evaluate a mountain climber who fell 40 feet down a sheer wall and is injured, landing on a small shelf saving him from what would otherwise be 300 foot fall.
How are you going to get to him timely, when getting medical attention is urgently needed yesterday, surely a matter of life and death?
You and a few other paramedics hop on their WASPs and hightail it to the fallen climbers ledge and secure him/her and transport the patient to the hospital using a flexible netting to cocoon him/her secured between two WASPs which fly in unison elapse time from getting the call to securing the patient for transport and on scene treatments to arriving at hospital?
70 minutes

Time to reach the injured party by repelling, then securing the patient for a jerky rope pull fest and then down the rocky terrain to a meadow where a helicopter can land and then to the hospital?

In this hypothetical story, it takes 4 hours due to the setup needed to repel safely. without description and detail, just know it was 4 hours.


much gentler on the patient than down the mountain terrain and bumpy highway too.

There is two uses of the top.

reply to post by imd12c4funn

There is two uses of the top.

LOL Did you happen to check out the weight restrictions?

reply to post by imd12c4funn


Maybe they should rename it WASD if its so easy to control! LoL

MystikMushroom
That thing would be awesome as a flying Popemobile!

Would probably do away with the London congestion charges for the daily commute too!

As far as the Army goes, they're right it doesn't have the same performance as a helicopter, but it has several main advantages over a helicopter.

If you get 20 soldiers packed into the back of a helicopter, and it is hit by enemy fire all 20 people are likely to die in the one crash...if the same 20 soldiers were using one of these 'personal craft'...that's 20 different, weaving and bobbing targets instead of just one.

The other benefit to these over conventional equipment, is that these craft and their pilots can be stacked in the back of troop transport / cargo aircraft...flown to within 50 miles of an operational theatre and released and launched from the tail of the cargo plane, and flown by their pilots to various areas around the target...much better than having to land troops on foot from a single helicopter, landing in or nearby a hot target area or jumping from a plane using a very visible and easily targetted parachute.

The Army should've looked at these in more detail IMO.

The civillian market has a lot of applications too, from search and rescue (more bodies, means more coverage at once), surveying, medical deployment over rough terrain (hill and mountain walkers), and so on.

reply to post by Stackpot


I remember seeing this for the first time on an old TV show called, "That's Incredible". Between this and the Moller SkyCar, I don't know which one got me more interested in developing my own personal flying machine.

reply to post by Stackpot


Interesting but if it doesn't use Petrol then there would be a lot of people out of pocket!

I don't see why we couldn't use safer methods for flying it... some sort of code which people would ave to adhere to... I definately think there would be no traffic problems.... even if you just used them upto 20 feet, extend the traffic lights upto 20 feet (already are on highways).. there you go... you'd still have pathways for pedestrians and maybe an extra 5 metres between you and one of these machines widthways with maybe a glass panel 30 feet high dividing the pedestrian/machine/pathway....