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September 9th, 2015

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Subject:For all the flying car fans...
Time:09:18 pm


I think there may be one or two tiny problems - it looks to me like it's using ground effect for at least some of its lift and is still barely getting off the ground, and control looks just a bit unstable. And I suspect that if one motor fails you will be heading for a chain reaction with less stability, more stress on the remaining motors, etc...

This one looks a little more practical
http://www.e-volo.com/ongoing-developement/vc-200
but I'd be more impressed if they had footage of it flying outdoors.
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filkerdave
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Time:2015-09-09 09:03 pm (UTC)
It's not that the bear dances well, but that it dances at all.
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ffutures
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Time:2015-09-10 09:36 am (UTC)
True. I'm sure it's possible, it just doesn't actually seem to be very practical...
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filkerdave
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Time:2015-09-10 04:39 pm (UTC)
Well, no, that's for sure.
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nelc
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Time:2015-09-10 11:58 am (UTC)
I'm wondering what the control system is. i guess you can get pitch and roll from throttling up or down selected rotors, but there doesn't seem to be any yaw control that I can see. It could probably benefit from an octocopter stability system wired in somehow, to stop it tumbling around so much.

Edited at 2015-09-10 11:59 am (UTC)
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ffutures
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Time:2015-09-11 08:49 am (UTC)
That's one of the things that occurred to me - whatever control system he was using didn't seem to be anywhere near as good as your average toy quadcopter.
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dsample
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Time:2015-09-13 05:55 am (UTC)
I think it was primarily the pilot's lack of a death wish that was keeping it so low. It got high enough that ground effect wouldn't be much of an issue.

The e-volo would also be more impressive if they tried flying it with someone onboard, or even a realistically weighted dummy in the pilot's seat.
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ffutures
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Time:2015-09-13 04:19 pm (UTC)
They lost a lot of control at height, which is why I think that ground effect was helping, if only by keeping it a bit more stable.

I suspect that the e-volo people are obeying FAA regulations etc. and won't try a human pilot until they've tested it thoroughly without.
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