Great idea in theory, dangerous product in practice.
YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”
291–300 of 313 posts
Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”
#292Personal jet carriers. Sounds sustainable!
Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”
#293Powered flight is a matter of boring straight lines, at least outside the Star Wars universe. If all the technical details are solved, we might discover that the toy appeal just isn't as big as expected. Or are there many motorcyclists that prefer straight roads? Doing curves withhold reason (like on a big flat open surface) would be much exciting either. For SAR applications, another interesting application of the c…
There will definitely be toy appeal. You can already fly helicopters low along a river which I highly recommend.
Doing that on something like this would be amazing.
Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”
#294The 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.
It does look somewhat awkward but the upper torso angle isn't much different from a sports bike. It isn't the most comfortable, but doesn't need to be given the flight times.
The fact that the rider's pocket is directly above the intake could be an issue.. I guess everyone riding these should be rich enough to not carry loose change.
Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”
#295Where 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…
In previous flying car type things, people have attempted to use Wankel engines, which I guess have a decent power to weight ratio.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moller_M400_Skycar
FWIIW Moller's project is a great example of why this is hard.
Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”
#296I am a motorcycle nut and aviation nut since birth. I’ve also jumped out of a dozen aircraft types via static line and ram air free fall chutes. And I enjoy paragliding. There’s nothing more I would like to see than a new form of personal flight. However, I don’t see the viability of this thing at all. Likely due to my having been in close proximity to the Martin Jetpack slow motion disaster over the last decade. Rel…
Actually the idea is quite similar to the "container" in the Agents of Shield [1]. A bit visionary. [1] https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Containment_... EDIT: there are jets small which could be attached to a rectangular frame. But I don't see where this can be used commercially? With what could you connect up in the air?
Hi,
My thoughts are more along the lines of a 5 or 6 electric prop motor drone along the lines of Griff Aviation drones.
Applications would be:
Military: 200kg, 200km range/100km radius would provide low cost rapid vertical logistics and CASEVAC to sub units that is desperately needed.
Commercial: regional city pair rapid logistics for critical 1 hour delivery.
Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”
#297I am a motorcycle nut and aviation nut since birth. I’ve also jumped out of a dozen aircraft types via static line and ram air free fall chutes. And I enjoy paragliding. There’s nothing more I would like to see than a new form of personal flight. However, I don’t see the viability of this thing at all. Likely due to my having been in close proximity to the Martin Jetpack slow motion disaster over the last decade. Rel…
Fascinating! It's not a "sexy" idea, but it sounds practical and technically feasible (from how you describe it). I especially like that tolerance to failure is built in the design.
Boring pays the bills all too often in life.
In my limited experience with drones, 5/6 rotor drones appear to be more survivable/recoverable if the drone suffers a single rotor failure.
Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”
#298I am a motorcycle nut and aviation nut since birth. I’ve also jumped out of a dozen aircraft types via static line and ram air free fall chutes. And I enjoy paragliding. There’s nothing more I would like to see than a new form of personal flight. However, I don’t see the viability of this thing at all. Likely due to my having been in close proximity to the Martin Jetpack slow motion disaster over the last decade. Rel…
Tons of interesting material in your comment. It actually sounds like you’ve just cooked up a viable start up idea. One issue I don’t see addressed in any of these modes of transportation is the enormous amount of noise the jet engines produce. Any insights on that?
My thoughts are to stick with electric motors powering props/rotors over jet engines.
But they still produce a fair bit of noise, however much less than jet turbines.
My guess is that drone rotor prop design can incorporate noise reduction potential(including shrouds), but they will also have to be balanced against lift/thrust performance and additional weight offsetting payload/range.
I can easily imagine a future where residential drone delivery raises considerable concerns over not just safety, but noise, perhaps with associated minimum flight altitude floors to reduce ground signature.
But that will have an impact on drone payload/range as well.
Possibly an analog debate to electric scooters, lower congestion but higher personal injury rate.
Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”
#299For me the moonshot problem I'd like to see solved would be trash. Literally! I've been to New York the first class world city where they pile plastic bags full of trash outside the houses and been to leafy suburbs in Europe where they put these bags in boxes and leave them outside too. Meanwhile in developing countries trash causes real pollution and health issues. But in all places it's people create waste and the…
This is not a moonshot technological problem, but like climate change, this is more of a problem which everyone can solve with changing habits.
It's not people who create waste but the manufacturers who in the best position to make waste reduction happen would rather offload the problem to consumers who can't do much about it. It's manufacturers who make non-standard containers, disposable plastic, unnecessary packaging, planned obsolescence etc...
There are incineration power plants that already are in service but they produce more pollution than coal plants.
This is not a technological but a social problem and if you want to have at it with a moonshot goal you would need to look at starting an activist organization and not a technology company.
You might want to read a few recent article related to China banning US imports of garbage to get an idea about the scope of the problem.
Re: YC's latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K “flying motorcycle”
#300IDK why YC lets stuff like this through when they always say they're struggling to fund nonprofits, things benefiting underrepresented groups etc. Its like, ya, because you're funding stupid shit like this