Meet 'Blackbird': A flying taxi that spins and moves in any direction thanks to new propulsion system
Meet 'Blackbird': A flying taxi that spins and moves in any direction thanks to new propulsion system
CycloTech's all-electric flying vehicle 'Blackbird' is a blueprint for an air taxi that uses motors similar to those used for tug boats.
A new type of flying car could soon be ferrying passengers through the skies using a novel propulsion technology, engineers say.
On Nov. 5, CycloTech, an Austrian company that builds flying car components, unveiled blueprints for its new "BlackBird" demonstrator aircraft — a flying car that uses a custom-made alternative to propellers.
Dubbed the "CycloRotor," this all-electric propulsion system is based on the principle of the Voith Schneider propeller (VSP) — which is frequently used on tug boats and ferries.
Oh come the fuck on with this. It's a quadrotor, but with even more axis of failure. Cyclorotors are not new, we've been using them on ships for ~100 years and on experimental aircraft since at least the 90s.
I will give this company credit though, they do have a tech demo that can fly. It's teensy, but it does look like they've actually done some amount of novel engineering to get this working.
Every time I see one of these new "air taxi" things, I play a little game with myself: "Is this more capable than a helicopter?". Thus far the answer has always, invariably, emphatically been no. Helicopters! They're already more than dangerous enough. Stop trying to make them even flimsier.
Looks like a Spinner from Blade Runner...
That looks scary. I picture pigeons, shrapnel, and American toothpick and papier-mâché homes.
X for doubt.
It's probably loud as fuck
Any video of the real thing flying?