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Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight

robbreport.com

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Re: Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight

#61

Post by simias »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #53
Robotbeat wrote: post #12

Lithium-based batteries (and associated tech) are to the 21st century what the internal combustion engine was to the 20th century and what the steam engine was to the 19th century. There’s a ~90% chance you’re using a device powered by a lithium chemistry battery to read this right now (laptop or tablet or phone). The smartphone alone (enabled by lithium based batteries) has transformed the world. Lithium-based batte…

Allow me my cynicism (this is HN after all): the rise of electric R/C planes and "foamies" has been a fascinating change in the model-airplane hobby but at the same time it has shown that you can practically put an electric motor + lithium cell on anything and it will "fly". So much so that I feel like the art/science of aerodynamics in modeling has fallen by the wayside. Your run of the mill quadcopter is an ideal e…

Quadcopters also usually have terribly autonomy. Gliding is a lot more efficient at conserving energy so there's still a lot good engineering to be had in aerodynamics whenever you need to be in the air for more than a handful of minutes at a time.

That's why if you look at professional drones you generally only see quadcopters when being able to hover and/or execute very precise motions is required, for the rest wings are still generally superior.

Re: Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight

#62

Post by bredren »

Robotbeat wrote: post #12

Lithium-based batteries (and associated tech) are to the 21st century what the internal combustion engine was to the 20th century and what the steam engine was to the 19th century. There’s a ~90% chance you’re using a device powered by a lithium chemistry battery to read this right now (laptop or tablet or phone). The smartphone alone (enabled by lithium based batteries) has transformed the world. Lithium-based batte…

It’s rather pedestrian in the shadow of this soaring sermon, but I found these Lithium Batteries in the shape of traditional D cells.

They put out 1.5v just like regular Ds but the end screws off slightly to reveal a micro usb to charge them! I wish I had these for my stuff when I was a kid.

I use them to power my automatic cat feeder. It’s great.

Re: Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight

#63

Post by palijer »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #53
Robotbeat wrote: post #12

Lithium-based batteries (and associated tech) are to the 21st century what the internal combustion engine was to the 20th century and what the steam engine was to the 19th century. There’s a ~90% chance you’re using a device powered by a lithium chemistry battery to read this right now (laptop or tablet or phone). The smartphone alone (enabled by lithium based batteries) has transformed the world. Lithium-based batte…

Allow me my cynicism (this is HN after all): the rise of electric R/C planes and "foamies" has been a fascinating change in the model-airplane hobby but at the same time it has shown that you can practically put an electric motor + lithium cell on anything and it will "fly". So much so that I feel like the art/science of aerodynamics in modeling has fallen by the wayside. Your run of the mill quadcopter is an ideal e…

What is the difference between what you are describing and a helicopter? Obviously comparing quad drones to fixed wing aircraft is going to make it seem that the quad drones thrown out 100 years of innovation and theory, but they are very different things.

Re: Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight

#64

Post by brendanw »

freeflight wrote: post #40
Retric wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, I just find it funny how in most cases 180MPH is fast, but that’s about the minimum speed for horizontal wingsuit flight. You really can strap a get engine to a brick and get it to fly, but you can’t stick a jet engine to a brick and get it to fly slowly. EX: F-15 landed safely with just one wing. A little cough propaganda, but still interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M359poNjvVA .

I don't fly wingsuits, but from a bit of quick research it seems that 180 MPH is fast even for a wingsuit. The article itself mentions typical horizontal speeds of around 62 mph. The Wikipedia article on wingsuit flying says: > A typical skydiver's terminal velocity in belly to earth orientation ranges from 180 to 225 km/h (110 to 140 mph). A wingsuit can reduce these speeds dramatically. A vertical instantaneous vel…

I run a small site/app where wingsuit pilots upload gps tracks for analysis. 180mph is fast but can be achieved/sustained without a jet.

In practice that is difficult to do on most BASE jumps as you need to sustain a steep angle for 10-15 seconds to hit that speed. Density altitude will greatly affect performance as well.

What's cool is being able to sustain 180mph while not losing altitude, which it sounds like BMW+Salzmann have accomplished. From the article:

"While Salzmann’s first flight was a resounding success, it appears he’s not resting on his laurels. According to BMW, the daredevil wants to fly between the skyscrapers of South Korea next."

I've dreamed of being able to zigzag through downtown skyscrapers for more than 10-15 seconds. The Jetman project is astounding. From a friend who is working on a copycat, the costs are close to 100k to replicate. Eager to see experimentation+progress on any projects with the promise of making hybrid human+wing flight more accessible (cheaper).

Re: Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight

#65

Post by snovv_crash »

joosters wrote: post #60
JKCalhoun wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Allow me my cynicism (this is HN after all): the rise of electric R/C planes and "foamies" has been a fascinating change in the model-airplane hobby but at the same time it has shown that you can practically put an electric motor + lithium cell on anything and it will "fly". So much so that I feel like the art/science of aerodynamics in modeling has fallen by the wayside. Your run of the mill quadcopter is an ideal e…

I don't understand the lasting appeal of quadcopters in particular. We can build remote-controlled 'normal' helicopters that have fantastic performance and much greater efficiency (no need for 4x the motors and stubby blades). The only downside I understand is that R/C helicopters are very difficult to fly, but that should be straightforward to overcome by putting a basic computer + sensors between the controller and…

Quadcopters are enormously more robust. With an RC helicopter any hard landing probably means replacing hundreds of dollars of finicky bearings and swash plates. Racing drones on the other hand smash into stuff all the time and keep going.

Re: Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight

#66

Post by CrazyCatDog »

Justin_K wrote: post #33

Does anybody else think it is way too small to produce any real thrust? If it put out serious thrust, I'd expect it to be less flimsy...the video made it look kind of floppy on the guy. I think BMW needs to publish the thrust produced vs use numbers that aren't truly comparable.

This is why they cannot use the EDF for launch—nowhere near enough thrust. But thrust is far less important for sustained speed, where pitch speed becomes the critical element.

Re: Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight

#67

Post by palijer »

joosters wrote: post #60
JKCalhoun wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Allow me my cynicism (this is HN after all): the rise of electric R/C planes and "foamies" has been a fascinating change in the model-airplane hobby but at the same time it has shown that you can practically put an electric motor + lithium cell on anything and it will "fly". So much so that I feel like the art/science of aerodynamics in modeling has fallen by the wayside. Your run of the mill quadcopter is an ideal e…

I don't understand the lasting appeal of quadcopters in particular. We can build remote-controlled 'normal' helicopters that have fantastic performance and much greater efficiency (no need for 4x the motors and stubby blades). The only downside I understand is that R/C helicopters are very difficult to fly, but that should be straightforward to overcome by putting a basic computer + sensors between the controller and…

Having 4 weaker motors is generally safer than one big one if something were to hit it, and you can shorten the blades because the lift is spread across 4x as many blades.

Multiple motors is good as well for any motor failures, as quads (if they're well designed) can fly after even multiple motor failures.

Re: Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight

#68

Post by reaperducer »

I saw this on the news a couple of days ago. It stated that flight time is about five minutes before the battery runs out.

That time in "flight" doesn't seem much different than the time it would take to plummet to your death. The only material difference seems to be the not dying part.

Re: Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight

#69

Post by heavenlyblue »

reaperducer wrote: post #68

I saw this on the news a couple of days ago. It stated that flight time is about five minutes before the battery runs out. That time in "flight" doesn't seem much different than the time it would take to plummet to your death. The only material difference seems to be the not dying part.

You could use these suits to help pilots who can’t land their plane - they literally only need a few moments of “burn” close to the surface

Re: Electrified wingsuit from BMW reaches 186MPH on first flight

#70

Post by 411111111111111 »

joosters wrote: post #60
JKCalhoun wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Allow me my cynicism (this is HN after all): the rise of electric R/C planes and "foamies" has been a fascinating change in the model-airplane hobby but at the same time it has shown that you can practically put an electric motor + lithium cell on anything and it will "fly". So much so that I feel like the art/science of aerodynamics in modeling has fallen by the wayside. Your run of the mill quadcopter is an ideal e…

I don't understand the lasting appeal of quadcopters in particular. We can build remote-controlled 'normal' helicopters that have fantastic performance and much greater efficiency (no need for 4x the motors and stubby blades). The only downside I understand is that R/C helicopters are very difficult to fly, but that should be straightforward to overcome by putting a basic computer + sensors between the controller and…

You're just vastly underestimating the stability four rotors bring. They're not flying in a vacuum. There are gusts of wind on top of actually moving the copter where you want him to go.

That can't be reasonably compensated by unless you use a processor which requires way more energy then the rotors ever will.

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