The Aero-X
hoverbike
A hoverbike (or hovercycle) is a vehicle that can hover, resembling a flying motorbike, having at least two propulsive portions—one in front of and one behind the driver.
Aeronautic motors
Starting in 2014, Malloy Aeronautics has been developin ...
is an
aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...
created by Aerofex, an
aerospace engineering
Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...
corporation based in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, designed to carry up to two people. It is not known when it will be released for sale.
Vehicle
Aerofex say that the vehicle rises 10 feet from the ground and can travel at a maximum of 45 miles per hour. It is expected to weigh 785lb and be 15 feet in length.
The bike runs for around 75 minutes on a full tank of fuel.
The Aero-X does not fly with the same energy efficiency as a
helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
, due to its
rotor blades being shorter, but it is much smaller in size and safer near humans.
This craft does not produce the
brownout of helicopters, as it is designed to be able to operate near people without blowing any significant amount of dust.
Development
The vehicle has been in development since 2008 and was originally planned for use by one person or as an
unmanned drone
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...
.
One of the difficulties of this technology involves stability and control, preventing the craft from frequent
rollover
Rollover or roll over may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Rollover'' (film), a 1981 American political thriller
*''Roll Over'', a 1992 album by Hound Dog
* "Roll Over", a 2006 song by Zico Chain
* "Roll Over", a 1989 song by Steven Wayne ...
s and crashes. To achieve this, Aerofex added two control bars which the rider can access at knee level and easily lean to one side or the other to balance the craft.
The price has been given as $85,000.
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Planned usages
The planned usages include agricultural field work, delivering materials in rough terrain, and for search and rescue vehicles.
See also
* Roadable aircraft
A flying car or roadable aircraft is a type of vehicle which can function both as a road vehicle and as an aircraft. As used here, this includes vehicles which drive as motorcycles when on the road. The term "flying car" is also sometimes u ...
* Hovercraft
A hovercraft, also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious Craft (vehicle), craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and other surfaces.
Hovercraft use blowers to produce a large volume of air below the hull ...
* Hovertrain
A hovertrain is a type of high-speed train that replaces conventional steel wheels with hovercraft lift pads, and the conventional railway bed with a paved road-like surface, known as the ''track'' or ''guideway''. The concept aims to eliminate ...
* Hoverboard
A hoverboard (or hover board) is a levitating board used for personal transportation, first described in science-fiction, and made famous by the appearance of a skateboard-like hoverboard in the film ''Back to the Future Part II''. Many attempts ...
* Hovercar
A hover car is a personal vehicle that flies at a constant altitude of up to few meters (some feet) above the ground and used for personal transportation in the same way a modern automobile is employed. The concept usually appears in science fic ...
References
External links
* {{Official website, http://www.aerofex.com/
Hovercraft