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Kitty Hawk reveals its secret project, Heaviside

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Re: Kitty Hawk reveals its secret project, Heaviside

#11

Post by dmix »

pubby wrote: post #7
baybal2 wrote: post #4

I protest, totally protest. Under no circumstances let people with dotcom webdev mentality run anything really serious in aeronautics. I myself had a rather similar talk to what that the panelist had with Kitty Hawk people with a very well moneyed, but also very naive CEO of a drone delivery startup. Some sarcasm added, but it went along these lines: Me: your best bet is to make a helicopter. Men much brighter than y…

I haven't been following the project. How do you know they have webdev mentality?

The company's lead is Sebastian Thurn who has been working on robotics, self driving cars, and AI since the early 1990s.

One of the most successful car makers in history from the early days of mass production of cars was run by an accountant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan

The OP is spreading FUD.

Re: Kitty Hawk reveals its secret project, Heaviside

#12

Post by wpdev_63 »

whamlastxmas wrote: post #2

It'll be cool if we can get electric aircraft like this as cheap as some of the somewhat homemade ultralights people make today. Battery and motor prices have a long way to go though

I can't imagine it would have more batteries than the model 3. It would be too heavy.

Re: Kitty Hawk reveals its secret project, Heaviside

#13

Post by michaelbuckbee »

baybal2 wrote: post #4

I protest, totally protest. Under no circumstances let people with dotcom webdev mentality run anything really serious in aeronautics. I myself had a rather similar talk to what that the panelist had with Kitty Hawk people with a very well moneyed, but also very naive CEO of a drone delivery startup. Some sarcasm added, but it went along these lines: Me: your best bet is to make a helicopter. Men much brighter than y…

What about Zipline? They seem to be doing drone delivery (of emergency blood supplies) in other countries and their approach to both safety and design seem admirable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnKnMgWy_tM

Re: Kitty Hawk reveals its secret project, Heaviside

#15

Post by dmix »

> The Mountain View, California-based company calls it Heaviside, after noted physicist and electrical engineer Oliver Heaviside, who advanced a variety of theories and innovations in mathematics, electronics, and communications in the early 20th century.

I like this idea of naming things after people who've contributed to the field. Mount Everest's name came from a British surveyor and geographer George Everest.

Brand names quickly take on meaning, it doesn't have to be .

I also can't imagine someone starting an aircraft company without having safety being drilled down their throat a million times before they produce anything that get's off the ground.

Re: Kitty Hawk reveals its secret project, Heaviside

#16

Post by zaroth »

baybal2 wrote: post #9
gundmc wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is precedence for a fixed-wing rotor-based VTOL aircraft with the Osprey, at least aerodynamically. Operationally, the Osprey was a bit of a disaster. But I agree that flight (and ESPECIALLY manned flight) needs extensive experience in aerospace engineering.

Osprey is more of a true biaxial helicopter first, and a convertoplane second. V22 have 2 lateral DOF in which it can move without moving COM relative to point of aerodynamic force, and without changing its aerodynamic cross-section, so you don't get positive feedback to change of orientation in wind gusts. This thing cannot do that as far as a glancing look can tell. I am not an aeronautic engineer, just a motoglide…

They built the thing, and fly it around 600ft in the sky. It’s not vaporware.

From what I can tell from the picture, it has 8 props, two wings, and a N-number of N221HV. Anything beyond that would be pure speculation.

Re: Kitty Hawk reveals its secret project, Heaviside

#17

Post by zaroth »

whamlastxmas wrote: post #2

It'll be cool if we can get electric aircraft like this as cheap as some of the somewhat homemade ultralights people make today. Battery and motor prices have a long way to go though

Interestingly, when you look up the N-Number it says the engine type is “Electric”. Maybe that means something else?

https://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?N...

Re: Kitty Hawk reveals its secret project, Heaviside

#18

Post by dmix »

When a VTOL vehicle switches directions of the blades in the air, is there any sort of drop in altitude as it moves into the forward direction? Or is it a gradual type of thing as it starts angling forward?

I could see any drop before it kicks in being startling for customers, especially if the motors are less powerful than a helicopter or jet.

I noticed the video makes a cut from flying to the landing part, without showing the transition of the blades downwards from forward flight. I'd imagine this also takes some careful timing to line up properly with the ground target.

Re: Kitty Hawk reveals its secret project, Heaviside

#19

Post by mortenjorck »

When they led with “100x quieter than a helicopter,” my first reaction was a skeptical “well sure, decibels are logarithmic!” But 40dB from 600ft away is impressive, and within the range of what I would consider acceptable for residential flyover (though not takeoff and landing) in a medium-density area.

Re: Kitty Hawk reveals its secret project, Heaviside

#20

Post by platz »

> On the helicopter, there’s a little bolt on top, and if you unscrew that, you take the cotter pin out, we all die.”

I imagine that's hard to do while in operation.

Meanwhile, a heli has autorotation, which is quite convenient in various failure modes.

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