CRAZY: F18 Hornet Extremely Low Flyby

Magnificent Men And Their Flying Ferrari

via Yanko Design by Radhika Seth on 6/8/09

While designer Iman Maghsoudi gave us a Ferrari that was akin to operating a PC touching speeds of 200 km/h; designer Vincent Montreuil has a different vision for the speedster. Adding a third dimension to the pulsating sport, he envisions race tracks in the air, demarcated with levitating lines (or ropes; u get the drift); and a Flying Ferrari X-Racer in the forefront. Call him crazy or over-ambitious, but it’s not hard to imagine his concept taking shape…say 50 years from now!

Designer: Vincent Montreuil

Honda Hovercar

via Yanko Design by Chris Burns on 5/11/09




This was supposed to be the future! That’s what I heard. I was always told that in the future, we’d have flying cars. I’d say what happened to that, but I know what happened to that: John Mahieddine happened to that. The “Honda Fuzo” is a Vertical Take-Off and Landing concept. The Fuzo is a futuristic fantasy with four high-powered turbines for high-speed horizontal flight and Iron-Man-like handling. Cruzin in at 350 mph, two joystick control for speed, trust, and steering. Vertical spaceways for ultra-infinite possibilities.

The joysticks. Here’s how they work. There’s two joysticks, one on either side of the driver’s seat on the armrests. The left joystick “allows the car to spin on its axis,” and the right one “manages tilt and direction.”

At the floor are the normal pedals controlling power and brakes.

For safety, two things in particular:
1. Fly-by-Wire system that relies on GPS to keep cars from hitting one another.
2. Airbags that open inside AND outside of the vehicle to protect the driver, the car, and anyone in the path of the car should it get in an air-collision. (Speed Racer anyone?)

Of course, if you’re into the whole landlubber thing, you can drive on the ground with the retractable wheels (the turbines convert into these.) The vehicle is constructed of materials such as carbon fibre, Kevlar, and carbon nano-tubes. The bubble canopy allows for two passengers plus the driver, “in a very hightech comfort.”

Designer: John Mahieddine

Martin Jetpack refined, available this year

via DVICE by CharlieWhite on 5/8/09

Remember that Martin "Jetpack" that was making the rounds last summer? The twin-fanned flier wasn't quite ready to take to the skies, hovering just a couple of feet off the ground, and always with two especially attentive attendants walking alongside, ready to snag it if something went awry.

What a difference nine months makes. Look at it now, capable of accurate control, and it's said to fly for 30 minutes at 60 mph, and travel a distance of 8000 feet. Still no word on how high it can go, or if it can exceed the altitude where it's boosted by that helpful ground effect. But this is a great improvement over the demos from last year.

Now they can just bring the cost down from its current $100,000, the era of intensely personal flight might be closer at hand. According to Martin, the first 10 units go on sale sometime this year.

Martin Jetpack, via Oh Gizmo

Trek Aerospace flying exoskeleton

via DVICE by Kevin Hall on 5/4/09



Trek Aerospace's Springtail exoskeleton will come in handy once we're invaded by similarly equipped aliens, just like in Exosquad. The "exoskeleton flying vehicle" is described by the company as a "single operator power lift vehicle." It flies using a pair of five-bladed, counter-rotating rotors with ducts that can tilt to pitch and yaw, and vanes are mounted below the rotors to control direction. It can liftoff carrying over 350 pounds, travel for almost 200 miles, operate for over two hours and cruise at 100 miles per hour.

So what's the Springtail good for? Right now, it's more of a demonstration of Trek Aerospace's hardware, though the company foresees it filling roles "that encompass crop dusting, search and rescue, emergency response, transportation, and delivering cargo." And, of course, fighting aliens and helping secret agents travel about.