For all the flying car fans...

[ffutures]

I think there may be one or two tiny problems - it looks to me like it's using ground effect for at least some of its lift and is still barely getting off the ground, and control looks just a bit unstable. And I suspect that if one motor fails you will be heading for a chain reaction with less stability, more stress on the remaining motors, etc...

This one looks a little more practical
http://www.e-volo.com/ongoing-developement/vc-200
but I'd be more impressed if they had footage of it flying outdoors.

Comments

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

It's not that the bear dances well, but that it dances at all.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

True. I'm sure it's possible, it just doesn't actually seem to be very practical...

[nelc.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering what the control system is. i guess you can get pitch and roll from throttling up or down selected rotors, but there doesn't seem to be any yaw control that I can see. It could probably benefit from an octocopter stability system wired in somehow, to stop it tumbling around so much.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Well, no, that's for sure.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

That's one of the things that occurred to me - whatever control system he was using didn't seem to be anywhere near as good as your average toy quadcopter.

[dsample.livejournal.com]

I think it was primarily the pilot's lack of a death wish that was keeping it so low. It got high enough that ground effect wouldn't be much of an issue.

The e-volo would also be more impressive if they tried flying it with someone onboard, or even a realistically weighted dummy in the pilot's seat.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

They lost a lot of control at height, which is why I think that ground effect was helping, if only by keeping it a bit more stable.

I suspect that the e-volo people are obeying FAA regulations etc. and won't try a human pilot until they've tested it thoroughly without.