YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle” • Hacker News Board

Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”

#261

Post by darkpuma » Fri, Mar 08, 2019, 4:24 PM UTC

farisjarrah wrote: post #260

darkpuma wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The military market for tiny turbine engines has been serious for decades; cruise missiles use them. I really do not believe that a plucky SV attitude towards engineering and VC funding is going to waltz into this domain and shock the world. But I definitely believe that SV self-confident arrogance would lead some to convince themselves otherwise.

Ah this point piqued my interest. Before I thought this was a waste of time for YC to be throw $150,000 at this company, but with the military aspect it makes it a lot more of a feasible business model. The military doesn't need something with many hours of flight time for all scenarios. They might just need to get medical supplies delivered to the field really quick and this could more then accomplish that potential…

Yes, very small turbines have a variety of military applications beyond just cruise missiles. Small turbine driven reusable drones are one possible application.

I'm not sure if you're trying to imply it, but YC funding defense tech under the guise of funding toys for the ultra-wealthy would be interesting, but I don't honestly think that's what's going on here. I don't think they're likely to develop novel turbine technology, and the concept of a one-person turbine flying device left the US military unimpressed decades ago. There doesn't really seem to be a tactical niche for it on the battlefield.

Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”

#262

Post by Footkerchief » Fri, Mar 08, 2019, 4:24 PM UTC

dmayman wrote: post #99

jamestimmins wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's exciting to see y'all working on this. I'm all for the Buck Rogers-style innovation. I'm curious, how high have you actually flown it? Up to 15,000 ft? That sounds absolutely terrifying.

No we haven’t to 15k ft, we’ve modelled that. We’ve flown at approx 7k ft above mean sea level in alps

How high above local ground level?

Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”

#263

Post by abock1 » Fri, Mar 08, 2019, 4:26 PM UTC

ameister14 wrote: post #255

Cactus2018 wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That's why all the demo videos of these things are over water.... I thought they were over water due to FAA regulations. From an article about Larry Page's Kitty Hawk Flyer. [1] > > In the US, the Flyer falls under the FAA's rules for ultralight aircraft, meaning no pilot's license is needed so long as it's flown over water or "uncongested areas." [1] https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/kitty-hawk-flyer-electric...

The demo video of his jetpack was shot in Monaco, not the US.

Yes, we actually do demos all over the world. We are not limited to over water from the FAA as our JetPacks are in the experimental category.

Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”

#264

Post by abock1 » Fri, Mar 08, 2019, 4:28 PM UTC

darkpuma wrote: post #226

mannykannot wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sound, I think, is coming from a large headset like the ones prominently worn by the ground crew. I don't think it's the pilot's headset, as it does diminish a bit at the greatest range, and I would expect some radio talk between the pilot and the crew. I suspect they are noise-canceling headsets, as there is something about how it sounds that reminds me of vacuuming with a noise-canceling headset on. Small has b…

I'm a bit suspicious of the camera shake when it's zoomed in before takeoff. I don't have video editing software available to me at this moment, but it would be interesting to track a few points and see if the path they trace out is actually random or if it looks artificial. Artificial camera shake is easy to spot this way if the VFX specialist was careless.

We wish we could fake these videos! Check out our youtube channel to see all the flights we have done all over the world!https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC68MUrNZtEgn9wHyZhcnJjw

Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”

#265

Post by abock1 » Fri, Mar 08, 2019, 4:32 PM UTC

asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #221

Animats wrote: post #153

Where are they getting the engine? You can get model aircraft jet engines with enough power for this.[1] Various human-carrying craft have been built that way, such as the Zapata Flyboard.[2] But the engines have a lifespan measured in hours and not enough reliability for carrying humans. That's why all the demo videos of these things are over water, or tethered. People have been trying to build small, cheap jet engi…

> But the engines have a lifespan measured in hours I think it's slightly more correct to say that they have a service interval measured in hours. The jetcat ones require service every 25h of use, but there are other companies that require service less frequently, although the highest interval I found is 100h.

For common hobby grade engines that is correct. We actually have working one on one with a manufacturer for over 8 years. Over this time we have gone through many iterations to make the engines rated for manned flight. So we own the special internal components that make these much much better than hobby grade engines.

Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”

#266

Post by takanori » Fri, Mar 08, 2019, 5:04 PM UTC

So is there a seatbelt or harness to attach the rider to machine as they FLY?

Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”

#267

Post by auiya » Fri, Mar 08, 2019, 5:06 PM UTC

Can you imagine how noisy everywhere would be if these became a commodity like cars? No thanks, do not want.

Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”

#268

Post by auiya » Fri, Mar 08, 2019, 5:09 PM UTC

razorbladeknife wrote: post #233

Animats wrote: post #153

Where are they getting the engine? You can get model aircraft jet engines with enough power for this.[1] Various human-carrying craft have been built that way, such as the Zapata Flyboard.[2] But the engines have a lifespan measured in hours and not enough reliability for carrying humans. That's why all the demo videos of these things are over water, or tethered. People have been trying to build small, cheap jet engi…

I wonder if it's legal to use Jet turbine in my car to produce extra acceleration for overtaking during commute.

There's a jet powered minivan that shows up every now and then to this Cars & Coffee - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEZ6zqeRXiw They also have a smaller jet engine powered mini bike similar to this one - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ybX25MjTsw

Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”

#269

Post by gameguy43 » Fri, Mar 08, 2019, 5:10 PM UTC

The rider's orientation looks...insane.

They won't be able to see anything through the body of the thing (gotta squint at a little display to understand what the heck you're flying towards?).

All their weight is going to be on their crotch (and, like, the front part of it) or maybe their stomach.

Their neck is going to be fighting gravity in the most awful way.

Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”

#270

Post by abock1 » Fri, Mar 08, 2019, 5:15 PM UTC

Animats wrote: post #153

Where are they getting the engine? You can get model aircraft jet engines with enough power for this.[1] Various human-carrying craft have been built that way, such as the Zapata Flyboard.[2] But the engines have a lifespan measured in hours and not enough reliability for carrying humans. That's why all the demo videos of these things are over water, or tethered. People have been trying to build small, cheap jet engi…

We have actually teamed up with a company called AMT Netherlands to build our custom engines. The engines are not cheap because most of the companies are making them in very very small batches. We are currently increasing our numbers so the numbers are coming down considerably. We are actually currently working on a small thrust class turbofan which would solve a lot of issues that turbojets present. If you check out our videos we have flown all over the world for different companies like RedBull. We have also flown at many over land events like the Austrian F1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZpMLyAOFiQ)as well as at The Festival of Speed at Goodwood (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvELzB7jY_0?).