A Flying Bike! But the Pilot’s a Real Dummy

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

We reported here last year on a flying bicycle being designed by Duratec Bicycles and Evektor Aviation using Dassault 3D CAD software.  The companies revealed their actual flying demonstrator at a press conference this week, but the pilot stood nearby with a radio control transmitter while a mannequin was flown around the large room. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUUmRXNR52M For now, it can do that for only five minutes, but Michael Duchek, technical director for Duratec, has hope.  “Because the capacity of batteries doubles about every ten years, we can expect that in the future the capacity would be enough for the bike to be used for sports, tourism or similar things” Its six propellers arranged much like a quadrotor, currently popular with design teams intent on delivering tacos, burritos, pizzas and even sushi by air, the bike’s greater weight and bulk make it more of a handful to fly.  Pilot Jan Spatny says, “It’s not as easy (to control) as a toy or …