Some crazy Japanese have created a 4-engine (I believe it can fly on three, and safely land on two) personal helicopter, for only 30,000$!

http://blog.scifi.com/tech/archives/2006/0...nal_helico.html

I read about it a few months back, but I'm amazed it's already in the market!

I'm an R/C vehicle enthusiast, and I intend on buying one of these used someday. (Currently, I'm a student. Students are poor. It sucks to be me.)

I wonder if I could get an automotive loan for one of these? The mileage probbably is'nt too bad, and helipads are increasingly common nowadays...

You act like it's the best thing since sliced bread, and then the headline is that! That's funny man.

Lovely. I hope Arsenal has some cheap personal ariel transport like this. By 2070, they ought to be able to make these sorts of things almost disposable. The link the jetpack is good too.

Definitely needs a cupholder.

That little POS is 30 grand? Fuck that. You can get kit choppers that will actually hold a couple of people for around that. And you won't look like an effing moron flying one of them, either.

This one is a decent example (and I don't feel like looking harder), and it's already built.

It may have four engines, but they all look pretty small.

Like I said, I didn't try very hard to find examples. They're out there. That one's expensive because it has been built. Typically, you buy the kit for the copter. You usually have to buy a powerplant separately. In doing so, you can still come in at/around 30k or less.

And "go for 10k used in a few years"? Proof? Proof that they'll still be around in a week, and actually in production ever?

How about these? Choose a price, pick a helicopter. Oh look, some of them have the capability of carrying you and your backpack.

Want to build it yourself? Vortech has blueprints and construction manuals for a bunch of models for around or under a hundred bucks.

Four engines? Big deal. Maintain your helicopter, learn how to fly it, and you won't need to worry about flaming death no matter how many engines it has. Accidents happen? Sure. But in the end, four tiny engines vs. one normal engine probably isn't going to save you from something you've done that's going to end in flaming death. How much of those are pilot error again? Oh yeah, almost all of them.

It's still a ridiculous overpriced toy. (You could say that about any of the personal helicopters, but we're speaking in relative terms here. That POS relative to a decent helicopter. )

There are some pretty nice-looking ones. The only problem is regulations on ultralights—specifically, you can't operate them over any area of dense population. If it weren't for that, I'd totally buy one and cut my (traffic-fueled) half-hour commute to five minutes.

~J

I hear that! I've wanted a little two seater for commuting since oh, the first time I remember ever seeing one.

I guess the trick is to work at the edge of a city/town, and live in a direction with no roads.

That, or become a rancher in Montana and use it to police up our moo-cows or something.

Remember that statistically speaking the more engines you have the more the chance one will fail. Not least because you have 4 engines to maintain instead of just one. It just means *if* one does fail the consequences are less, down to individual taste as to which is preferable.

Oh, you'll probably get people saying "Having multiple engines saved my life"... but they wohn't factor in the increased risk of engine failure, which translates to "Having more engines made it more likely I'd need the extra engines".