Ehang unveils drone that can carry a human

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does no one else see a CoG issue with this toy, any loss of lift anywhere will have it wanting to start rolling, a loss of a rotor only feet off the ground would land you on your head.

It would depend on how the rotors are set up - if they are independently powered (top and bottom) then it would be possible to increase power on the one that didn't fail to compensate, or decrease power to the opposite rotor to achieve balance.
 
Mike - That's why I think that autonomous "drone" vehicles most likely will be used for a specific transportation purpose and not private transportation. And like I mentioned earlier, these "drones" would be allocated to a specific corridor (min/max altitude and specific route) as well as a timed "enter/exit/spacing" algorithm that the "drones" follow - no user input available. Think of it kind of like an aerial "People Mover".

In a private application, there are just too many people and too many things that can go wrong. The futuristic idea of air-mobile private vehicles belongs in the realm of the Jetson's and the Fifth Element.

As it is, places like New York, London and such are relatively congested with vehicle traffic until you compare them to the brutal traffic of Beijing, Singapore and any large city in India. There's just no way that the the idea of multi-level traffic with air-mobile vehicles is possible.

I suspect that in the next several decades, private vehicles (of any form - except bicycles or similar) will be phased out in favor of mass transit (of various means) for any of the large cities of earth. This of course excludes rural areas.
 
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In my disinterested life there seems to have been a lot of people on the edges of stardom and also many in the military and civilian transport who have died in helicopter accidents. That is with a high level of training and regulation, I feel something like this toy would create mayhem.
 
I think it may end up something like the Moller flying car.

On the cover of Popular Science, and dozens of other publications, big promises for over 30 years. Finally got it off the ground sometimes after 2000, safety tied to a crane ( for insurance purposes, it was said) never got it over 15 feet. Been investigated for fraud a few times.
So many wild claims, less than 500 hp out of 4 wankel rotaries was going to put 4 passengers over 300 mph, and 800 miles.
 
These multiple rotor vehicles are MUCH more stable and easier to fly than your standard helo. Now I do not have anything full-sized but I have both RC Helos and the quad- and hex-copter. The hex- is the easiest to fly and very stable even in wind conditions so I can easily see full-sized versions being used in tight situations.
I can also see a Johnny Cab-type version for moving people around cities using roof-top helo pads. The BIG BUT is the control system and all the What-Ifs
 

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That and those props don't look big enough.

the prop isn't much smaller than those used on ultralight ac which have a empty weight of 254#......and it does have 8 of them. i didn't look at the specs to see what it weighs in at. i am impressed with the size of the 4 electric motors that are able to make it fly.
 
Yeah, but you can't compare a prop with a rotor size-wise. rough calculations show (based on a 4ft dia rotor and 660lbs max weight) a disc loading of 3.3lb/sqft, comparable with a B206 at 4 lbs/sqft, so they probably are big enough.
 
Not that I've ever seen, but they've got other problems due to this, such as retreating blade stall, flapping, etc. they also run at a constant speed. This would use variable rotor speed to vary the amount of lift provided. Helicopter rotors vary the blade angle.
 
Larger unmanned drones are being used by farmers in Australia to carry out the traditional daily rounds, checking and filming at predetermined waypoints....things like fences, gates, water supply, feed stations, crop irrigation and the like. The GPS positional gadgetry is more accurate than manual control helos, cost a fraction to run, and have a much lower accident rate than manned a/c doing the same tasks. The anti collision techs in these things, bad weather monitoring etc are all ahead of manned flight eqivalents. Manual control will be available to these new manned drones the chinese are designing, but apparently only to land the thing safely. The thing would need a major systems failure to try to land you on a wall or a cliff, or even fly in dangerous weather. The local software packages will not allow you to program a flight into or near, or from a flight path, and other drones will be aware of other drones airborne and nearby.

In the event of a failure of one rotor, the software and the hardware can land you safely.

Is there a risk with these things? Unquestionably. If they take off, some will get killed eventually, just the same as people get killed all the time building and flying any ultralight.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qah8oIzCwk
 
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So, if the person on board can take control, is it still a drone/UAS/RPAS?

It wouldn't be accepted as such here in NZ, the CAA have publicly stated that.
 
Yep, but if you're not trained - that could just make matters worse.

If you are trained and capable of operating it, then you're called a pilot.
 

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