Pegasus Flying Cars Australia
 

This appeared in our Mods chat, courtesy of tail wheel .

The mind boggles at such minor details as driving a set of (parked) rotor blades through traffic, let alone parking and departing from your home in the outer suburbs. Can anyone say ‘Council Approvals’?

But is that a CASA registration I see?

https://www.birchal.com/company/pegasus-flying-cars

i see what looks like a helicopter that may be compliant. What does it drive on the road as? A 4 wheeled motorcycle with "oversize" load issues?

That's not a flying car, its a drivable helicopter. Don't get me wrong, I still want one, but its important to make the distinction.

This is a flying car;

It's going to fit so well in that city environment they portray in their media blurb - we all know how well rotors mix with wires, street lamps, buildings etc................

Finding somewhere in Oz to land or take off will be the challenge. It's a helicopter, therefore any Labor government will swat it out of the sky. No Labor council will allow it in their area. The Greens will have a conniption, and landing it in the outback will offend the Traditional Owners and Groaners.

Insurance will be a trick, covering a parking lot tickle of the tail rotor.

Plenty of tradies are doing it already with timber sticking out from the roof of their utes (pickups) after a trip to Bunnings (building supplies store)! They flop up and down over the bumps too.

The timber is usually supported in 2 or more points, not at one point at the end of the blade. Bouncing up and down without the added strength of centripetal force will be an unknown in the fatigue arena. And if they bump the timber against a wall it doesn't matter.

Drives like a go-kart though.

The 'helicopter' bits look very much like one of those Mosquito homebuilt things. I guess being homebuilt you can do whatever you like with it once it's finished. Dunno as I'd be flying it, let alone after he's been throwing it round corners as in the video!

Ag Operators in the USA move their aircraft by road rather than fly them in most cases.

The Rotor Blades get lot of careful attention in. those transfers.

I cannot imagine the stresses that would be imposed on a blade that did not have a cushioned cradle.....as I know what potholes do to my 4x4 Pick Up truck.



https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....d2e42a0ae6.jpg

You won't need the term "defenestrate", not like Asianas A321, or the Kremlin; "decapitate" will do fine.

presumably there would be the mother of all dampers or a solid stop for the blades that appear to have a lead-lag hinge root fitting. On a teeter head that would be entertaining if not rigid. Having the swash plate down low and acting through push rods to short overhead pitch links is not a bad idea, been done before but much easier here with an offset engine. If the head-on, blade end photo on their website is of the section, that is up there in the phattest sections ever used on a rotor, it's somewhere near 18-20%, 0.3c, asymmetric... not something you see every day. Pushing that at high tip u is gonna be taking some push.

The TRB looks like there was lots of spare metal in the shed needing to be used up. Not a bad thing at all. They got a delta-3 in there, so that is nice... Pretty lateral thinking in using chunky plate and box to take the place of CNC machined parts. At least the loads analysis is easier to do, not pretty, but the TR is going to be there well after the bystanders have "headed off" to the Enoggera pub.

The control authority on this is going to be interesting, with negligible mast height, there is going to be some pretty impressive TPP/body angles, might not suit mustering... :}

Sounds like you are anticipating some possible loss of face by some should this all come to fruition.

there is nothing really in the regs to stop you designing a salami cutter, after all, the US Army tried flying a crew member standing on top of a blender....

but there is...
§ 27.661 Rotor blade clearance



Pilot seat would be part of the structure.... bystanders who are taller than the disk? not so much.

You can certify it, you might not get insurance for 3rd party...