DailyDirt: One-Man Flying Machines…

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Millions of people have flown in planes — or even jumped out of them with a parachute just for fun. But not too many people have piloted their own personal aircraft. Sure, people can buy motorized gliders or just tie a bunch of weather balloons to a lawn chair — but the flying car still sounds like a futuristic concept. Here are a few experimental projects for aircraft designed for just one passenger.

• A human-powered helicopter from the University of Maryland is being developed to win the Sikorsky Prize. The Sikorsky Prize will award $250,000 for a human-powered aircraft that can hover at an altitude of at least 3 meters for a minute within a restricted area. [url]
• NASA’s experimental Puffin aircraft is a one-person stealthy helicopter. But it hasn’t exactly been proven to work yet. [url]
• Yves Rossy (aka The Jetman) flew his jetpack over the Grand Canyon recently. Before the flight, the Jetman got permission from the Hualapai Reservation and the FAA — and got a bit nervous about the media attention..? [url]
• To discover more cool sites about aviation, check out what’s currently flying around StumbleUpon. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

Filed Under: helicopter, jetman, sikorsky prize, yves rossy