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Volocopter 2x – Safer Alternative to a Personal Helicopter

volocopter.com

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Re: Volocopter 2x – Safer Alternative to a Personal Helicopter

#21

Post by michaelt »

dmitrygr wrote: post #10

1. Helicopters (multi or single rotor) are significantly less fuel efficient than planes per distance and per time 2. Electric planes are just barely approaching the flying time that is anything beyond being a joke 3. These guys do not state their flying time My guess? It is so bad that it is not worth mentioning.

  The initial two-seat design uses battery packs, with a
  flight-time duration of only about 20 to 30 minutes. It 
  will be certified for sport flying, Zosel says, and he
  plans to sell the copters for about $340,000. He’s also
  working to develop a hybrid power system that would extend
  flight time to over one hour.
https://www.wired.com/2015/06/18-rotor-volocopter-like-flyin...

Re: Volocopter 2x – Safer Alternative to a Personal Helicopter

#22

Post by vacri »

perilunar wrote: post #4
beamatronic wrote: post #2

I've been following e-volo for several years. I think they have a winning design here, unless there is an obvious design flaw I am not seeing.

Obvious design flaws: 1. it's really ugly 2. can't glide if the power fails

Adding to simonjgreen's comment, helicopter pilots routinely train for power-free landings, and do them more often than fixed-wing pilots do.

Re: Volocopter 2x – Safer Alternative to a Personal Helicopter

#23

Post by simonh »

sandworm101 wrote: post #13

"Simply foolproof" aka unsinkable. "Safety first" ... if safety was the primary concern one wouldn't ever step into a helicopter. Speed and convenience come first. I would enjoy reading the market studies for these micro helicopters. Weight is a huge issue. Exactly how fat can the passengers be?

If safety was the primary concern I'd lever leave home. I think if rigorous safety goals are set and meeting those goals comes before meeting any other performance or cost criteria, then I think it's reasonable to say that safety came first.

Re: Volocopter 2x – Safer Alternative to a Personal Helicopter

#26

Post by hengheng »

dmitrygr wrote: post #10

1. Helicopters (multi or single rotor) are significantly less fuel efficient than planes per distance and per time 2. Electric planes are just barely approaching the flying time that is anything beyond being a joke 3. These guys do not state their flying time My guess? It is so bad that it is not worth mentioning.

> Electric planes are just barely approaching the flying time that is anything beyond being a joke

Exactly why it has to be developed now and not in five years. Naysayers on HN sometimes. It's a world's first, of course it doesn't beat a Ford Focus.

Re: Volocopter 2x – Safer Alternative to a Personal Helicopter

#27

Post by donquichotte »

What I would love on these kind of announcements is a short overview of the specs (just like they make them for cars and motorcycles!)

- range [km]

- battery capacity [kWh]

- flight time [h]

- maximum load [kg]

- weight [kg]

- price [€]

- permissions needed to fly it

...

Instead of a very strange and convoluted website with titles like "jump in and take off" (what else am I gonna do with a personal helicopter?) I would love to have some hard facts.

Re: Volocopter 2x – Safer Alternative to a Personal Helicopter

#28

Post by votingprawn »

vacri wrote: post #22
perilunar wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obvious design flaws: 1. it's really ugly 2. can't glide if the power fails

Adding to simonjgreen's comment, helicopter pilots routinely train for power-free landings, and do them more often than fixed-wing pilots do.

Those "power-free" landings require a collective pitch rotor system.

The volocopter appears to be direct drive fixed pitch so it wouldn't be able to autorotate.

It also presumably relies on counter rotating rotors to cancel out the torques, so loss of motors may require other motors to be shut down to prevent undesirable yaw.

I remain somewhat skeptical of these being practical beyond 5-10 minute fun flights around a field, but good luck to them.

Re: Volocopter 2x – Safer Alternative to a Personal Helicopter

#29

Post by Semiapies »

hengheng wrote: post #26
dmitrygr wrote: post #10

1. Helicopters (multi or single rotor) are significantly less fuel efficient than planes per distance and per time 2. Electric planes are just barely approaching the flying time that is anything beyond being a joke 3. These guys do not state their flying time My guess? It is so bad that it is not worth mentioning.

> Electric planes are just barely approaching the flying time that is anything beyond being a joke Exactly why it has to be developed now and not in five years. Naysayers on HN sometimes. It's a world's first, of course it doesn't beat a Ford Focus.

No, that generally means this offering won't go anywhere and anther company entirely will build a practical one down the line.

Re: Volocopter 2x – Safer Alternative to a Personal Helicopter

#30

Post by FabHK »

_ph_ wrote: post #12

While this is not a car replacement for everyone - the Volocopter will require a full pilot license to be flown, it should have a significant impact on small commercial and especially non-commerical flying. Helicopters are very expensive to operate and the Volocopter should bring down operation costs down to the levels of fixed-wing aircrafts, if not even below that, as it lacks any maintenance-intensive combustion e…

> Volocopter will require a full pilot license to be flown

My understanding is that it'll require a sport pilot license, and the regulator might well introduce an entirely new category (as it is not comparable to a heli or even fixed wing in complexity).

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