Helicopter or drone?
 

Chinese drone maker unveils human-carrying drone - The Denver Post

Only two available commands, "takeoff" and "land". :eek:

"One thing that makes quad-copters safer than helicopters are its numerous propellers, Xiong said. Even if three of the four arms have their six propellers disabled, the final arm's working propellers can ensure a rough landing by spiraling toward the ground, he said."


?? Really?

I was a little concerned by the statement: "passengers only need to give two commands, "take off" and "land," each controlled by a single click on a Microsoft Surface tablet" - I just hope tht the tablet hasn't crashed or decided to reboot to install an update just at the point you want to land.

However, then I read this: "A passenger would have no controls as a backup, he said. In the event of a problem the company plans a remote control center that would take over the vehicle and ensure it lands safely" - I'm intrigued by what the remote control technology is that they are so confident that there will be no blackspots or areas of poor reception or interference! and let's hope a problem never arises in the remote control receiver!

Matthew

Yes really. By spinning the whole vehicle like a spinning top, the remaining nacelle (under computer control) can provide reduced lift and cushion the landing.

@chopjock

I bet the poor guy standing on / sitting in the "spinning top" will spit his guts out:}:uhoh:

Hm, what is new here? (except few props less)
Volocopter VC200 was remote flyable in 2013. :confused:
same problem of no auto rotation possible but at last some parachute included.

The way I understand it, what's new here is that this is the first passenger aircraft (not just rotary wing) that has been designed to operate with zero crew on board.

Surely if you have to switch on a control for the aircraft and select your destination,you are a pilot!

But licensing should be much easier:
1. You are physically able to open the door, enter the aircraft, fasten the seatbelts and close the door?
2. You are able to open the App and select one of the offered targets?
3. You are able to press the "Go"-Button?

Congrats, you're now an AAV pilot :ok:
:)
By the way: with folded arms, this thing fits into a parking space. But, considering the skids, how does it get there?:confused:

Thracian

Helicopter or drone.

Well technically, I guess, the word helicopter would be correct.
However this is more commonly used for the aircraft with a Single Main Rotor configuration (or Coax/Tandem/Synchropter/etc.).
All these aircraft are familiair with colletive and cyclic pitch control.

But since this aircraft has multiple rotors and definitely no cyclic pitch control (probably not even collective pitch), I prefer to call this configuration Multirotor.
I see that this configuration is very popular in the drone industry, hence the other 'asked' option of 'drone'.

Technically, this could be a drone. However the human being on board would have to be payload/cargo and a pilot would be required to be present on the ground, having the ability of 'full control' of the aircraft.
So, I think we can therefore safely state, that this is not a drone.

While it is technically possible to have some form of a "rapid controlled descent" with one or two engines inoperative, I doubt it very very veeeeerrrrryyyy much, that this is achievable on a vehicle like this, with a relatively high disk loading.
It would be a very, very rough landing, most likely not survivable.
An emergency parachute would be the best option.

I bet it has a propensity to flip upside down when encountering a decent bump of air.

With the props at ground level I'm sure it'll get more that just two feet off the ground.

It's a piece of sh#t. Nothing more, nothing less.

POS or the future?

There is no way in the world I would ever fly anything that is controlled by microsoft software!

The 8 rotors are all fixed pitch. Lift, thrust and attitude control is regulated by motor speed. If a motor fails, it might be difficult to maintain control of the aircraft.

The batteries only provide enough power for around 30 minutes of flight at best.

"The batteries only provide enough power for around 30 minutes of flight at best"

So what happens if you're happily flying along on autopilot and the batteries run out?

POS rolled in glitter.

A safe un-powered auto-rotation landing would require the capability to regulate the lift/drag at each rotor axis. With the system described, it would not seem possible since there is not the ability to apply/absorb the required amount of power at this condition.

And then there's this.