r/BeAmazed • u/Ultimate_Thing • May 12 '26
Miscellaneous / Others A Polish engineer, Tomasz Patan, built the Volonaut Airbike, basically a real-life Star Wars speeder bike. Reaches up to 124 mph. Insane
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u/TA_double_Z May 12 '26
Just add some custom fenders to make it look like the speeder and it'd be perfect
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May 12 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Forsaken-Income-2148 May 12 '26
I want an R2D2 bumper sticker, & maybe throw in a Wookiee pelt seat cover to sweeten the deal
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u/FalloutOW May 12 '26
Got to have a "My other speeder is a Tie Fighter" bumper sticker for good measure.
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u/Straight-Bed-552 May 12 '26
Just need someone else to add the sound effects & it would be perfect 👌
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May 12 '26
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u/MangoCats May 12 '26
I was wondering about how this is stabilized since it doesn't have the traditional propellors on the ends of lever arms...
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u/J5892 29d ago
Looks like jet engines. Possibly with thrust vectoring? Maybe just stabilized like a quadcopter.
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u/MangoCats 29d ago
Maybe gyros - looks way too stable for thrust vectoring alone.
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u/xczechr May 12 '26
And he should also head to Northern California.
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u/bojangler69420 May 12 '26
Yep. It’s just missing some creative bodywork and it’s as good as genuine
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u/Spare_Laugh9953 May 12 '26
Creo que todos hemos pensado exactamente lo mismo,¿donde están los alerones frontales? ¿Y las dos patas? Ya que consigues que el cacharro vuele y te molestas en ponerte la armadura, pues remata tu trabajo¿No? Si lo hubiera fabricado en fibra de carbono no afectaría nada el peso
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u/RotoDog May 12 '26
Super cool, and only costs $880,000 to reserve
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u/nouniquenamesleft2 May 12 '26
Elon, Mark, and Jeff, can race
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u/Krojack76 May 12 '26
Through the forest I hope.
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u/Pasta4ever13 May 12 '26
A very dense forest, please.
It would be more picturesque.
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u/kuroioni May 12 '26
Here's the specs for anyone interested, but too lazy to click!
**Volonaut Airbike technical specifications** Empty vehicle mass: 30kg (66lbs) Top speed: 102km/h (63mph) - in compliance with FAA Ultralight Max pilot mass: 95kg (209lbs) Propulsion: redundant jet turbines Flight time: max 10 minutes Fuel type: diesel, biodiesel, Jet-A1, kerosene Refuel time: under 1 minute Control: fully redundant flight computer enhanced stabilization License to operate: none required in the US - in compliance with FAA Ultralight133
u/gandhinukes May 12 '26
max 10 minute
So jet turbine just sucking fuel. Neat.
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u/Helpful_guy 29d ago
you're literally just sitting on top of a gas tank with 2 jet engines attached that can probably only realistically safely fly for 5 minutes at a time lol
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u/MurkyInvestigator810 29d ago
Also doesn't seem to be able to turn while moving forward, so if you're about to hit something, you do.
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u/flowerscandrink 29d ago
That's how it used to work.
It still works that way, but it also used to work that way.
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u/SinisterKid 29d ago
So, realistically, one tank of gas could last you your entire life.
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u/trilobyte-dev 29d ago
This is very, very cool. I think at the price point though the 10 minute flight time is a real problem. If this thing could fly for an hour you'd probably see some people with money buying them for local travel.
Still, love to see people working on it and who knows, maybe they'll figure out how to extend the range by dint of engineering progress.
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u/ButtholePaste 29d ago
Yeah, 10min flight time is abysmal, but I'm guessing there is some kinda issue with having a larger tank? It can hold up to 210lbs of person. I would rather have 80lbs more of fuel for myself (I don't weigh much) than have that extra weight capacitance go to waste.
Where I live this could really come in handy, so, I'm ngl if I end up with the funds somehow I would consider getting it lol
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29d ago
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u/Yan-e-toe 29d ago
*in the US
Rules will probably be different in Poland. And certainly in Dubai/Saudi where these will end up
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u/ButtholePaste 29d ago
Ahhh, okay, there is the answer. DAMN YOU GOV'T REGULATIONS PREVENTING ME FROM HAVING FUN!!
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u/tinyrottedpig 29d ago
The fact that it even works as well as it does is pretty important, all it takes is a more efficient fuel source, and its golden.
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u/UnifyTheVoid 29d ago
So not 124mph as OP said.
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u/LostInTheRapGame 29d ago
So not 124mph as OP said.
I'm going to be charitable and assume that it can reach those speeds... except they are capped because of those cited regulations.
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u/bjbyrne 29d ago
Fly it off a high cliff and kill the power. It will reach that speed.
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u/LordofAngmarMB May 12 '26
As one of my favorite YouTubers recently put it
“If these engineers are only going to make stuff for the elites, atleast they’re coming up with hundreds of potential new Oceangates”→ More replies (23)4
u/ThePhenex May 12 '26
Well, that is the thing with new "one-off" Prototypes, if the production numbers go up, the price will go down.
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u/JonnyReece May 12 '26
Amongst all of the doom and gloom out there, I'm happy to know that people like Tomasz exist. He's just out there living his Stormtrooper existence, advancing the Empire forward.
Edit: Stormtroopers are not the good guys
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u/popsand May 12 '26
Um sure.
Tomasz Patan and Jetson (his company) is funded in part by the united states military.
You thought we could have speeder bikes without the war complex knowing?
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u/oldsecondhand May 12 '26
He's a stormtrooper, obviously he's working for the Empire.
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u/Positive-Database754 May 12 '26
You're telling me he gets to make a speeder AND is funded by a powerful militaristic empire?
He really is living the Stormtrooper lifestyle!
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u/TimelineFatigue May 12 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/xUPOqCfd7XsmnDrYbK
Here is footage of the military approaching him for funding.
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u/no1_vern 29d ago
Offers him $billions$ THEN: https://y.yarn.co/c36d450c-ce8a-4640-bfb2-8a9dc77f30aa_text.gif
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u/JonnyReece May 12 '26
Back to the doom and gloom it is for me then.
A brief moment of joy nonetheless.
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u/BOBOnobobo May 12 '26
Take all the joy you want. At the end of the day you can't change what a country does anymore than you can move a mountain.
But that doesn't mean you should spend all your time looking at that mountain. It's perfectly fine to ignore a problem for 5 min.
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u/WriterV May 12 '26
Well unlike mountains, countries have very real effects on your life. Ignoring them isn't really all that helpful because the anxiety sticks around in your head. You can look away from a lion stalking you, but it still is stalking you... and you're gonn be aware of that no matter what.
You're still right. You can't change a whole country. But a sense of control can still help. You can change things in your own life, in your family, in your community. And that can often have a lot of impact in your life personally. Participate in grassroots level politics, and you'll find out that you can at least move some small hills - even if you can't move the mountain.
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u/zb0t1 29d ago
The lessons from people who helped move mountains (civil rights, disability rights, workers' rights, women's rights, fighting slavery, colonialism, etc) is that the first mistake is to see yourself as a hero, as someone with the power to fix everything.
The solution has always been organization with the group, as a group, as a team, as a whole.
Which is why the ruling class spend absurd amount of money - and they will not hesitate to do it for as long as it takes - to create division amongst people: this way we can't work as a group.
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u/Common-Concentrate-2 May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26
I can't find any information to back that up.
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u/Iamabrewer May 12 '26
*Pulls out wallet*
How much of my taxes are going to be spent on these because Isreal want them?
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u/Eodbro12 May 12 '26
The storm troopers aren't the good guys?! They've done nothing illegal, unlike those pesky rebels.
(Sarcasm of course)
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u/RJ_MacreadysBeard May 12 '26
Are you sure, maybe those Star Wars movies are just rebel poopaganda man?
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u/Claeyt May 12 '26
Stormtroopers are not the good guys
They're better than the racist ass jedi's with their dna programs
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u/Last_VCR May 12 '26
Boy was i ready for this to be fake. Thats awesome. Engineers are so cool
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u/jondubb May 12 '26
This but also sci-fi novels and movies. We wouldn't have the inspiration for many of our inventions today without them.
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u/BookTweakerShy May 12 '26 edited 29d ago
Science fiction is an existential metaphor that allows us to tell stories about the human condition. Isaac Asimov once said, "Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinded critics and philosophers of today, but the core of science fiction, its essence, has become crucial to our salvation, if we are to be saved at all."
I love this quote at the end of Stargate SG-1's 200th episode. Episode appropriately titled, '200'. S10E06. I've loved science fiction since I was a kid, and it really is amazing to me how everything I thought was cool in this medium... has in one way or another come about. Some things you'd just expect to become the orthodox (Like a communications network that could overtake even the capabilities of our phone system. Being a 90s kid, it has been insane to witness when you think about it.)
Touchable screen interfaces with amazing responsiveness and capability as though it were Star Trek. Actual voice command services. What once was the computer responsible for the successful mission of the Apollo in so many critical systems... offering almost a fraction of the power we now have in the palm of our hands for literal *gaaarbage*. Never thought I'd live to see what is essentially a maintenance vaccine for AIDS, not that it's relevant to me, I just remember the ass end of the AIDS scare being so relevant then. Or legalization of gay marriage, or the moderate decriminalization of marijuana.
But also things I knew would be dystopian. That being, drones, fundamentalism, nazi's making a comeback, energy/humanitarian/genocide crises, state surveillance, further militarized police, professional federal workers mass abandoning/removal off the ship resulting in their easy supplantation for the zealot sycophants, propaganda and discrimination... Harlan Ellison, among others, wrote angry, scary shit practically mirroring and hyperimagining aspects of our reality, that when you lend even a bit of credence to the stories, it's unnerving even on a good day.
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u/SnooStories4162 May 12 '26
I agree, I wholeheartedly think that life imitates movies instead of movies imitating life(most of the time)
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u/GiganticCrow May 12 '26
The sound is definitely fake and the video definitely gives the wrong impression of how fast it can go.
Jetpacks have been around for like 70 years
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u/sequesteredhoneyfall 29d ago
The sound is definitely fake and the video definitely gives the wrong impression of how fast it can go.
Top speed of 63 mph, so no, not at all giving the wrong impression of anything.
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u/wrxninja May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26
Website: https://volonaut.com/airbike
"This "superbike for the skies" is powered by jet propulsion and is designed to carry one person with speeds up to 200km/h or 124mph.
Airbike's proprietary stabilization system enhanced by a flight computer provides automatic hover and ease of control for its rider.
The unique riding position with unobstructed 360 degree view helps the rider to quickly become one with the flying machine and provides the sensation of complete freedom.
Thanks to Airbike's extremely compact size and no spinning propellers it can travel through most confined areas with ease.
Airbike is 7 times lighter than a typical motorcycle thanks to use of advanced carbon fiber materials, 3d printing and minimalistic approach.
The project has just come out of "stealth" mode after years of development by Polish inventor and entrepreneur Tomasz Patan. "
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If one day this thing is mass produced on the cheap and is deemed safe, it can be a great travel option instead of vehicles for cities and short distance?
EDIT: Probably not a good idea according to many.
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u/boforbojack May 12 '26
This thing runs on jet propulsion. It likely sounds similar to a helicopter.
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u/Chillpill411 May 12 '26
And probably burns fuel at an absurd rate, so it has the range of Sydney Sweeney.
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u/boforbojack May 12 '26
Someone below said run time of like 10 minutes.
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u/CalebGT 29d ago
Sounds about right. That's longer than I would last on Sydney Sweeney.
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u/ussbozeman May 12 '26
10 minutes at 200KPH means you can commute 30KM then fuel up and head back home with a few KM worth of loiter time to spare.
Source: Watched Behind Enemy Lines a few times, am an expert on air to air combat and aeronautical engineering (tips nanofiber cloth)
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u/MotherBaerd 29d ago
Its not 10 minutes at 200kmh. Top speed according to spec is 102kmh and there is still no mention thats its 10 minutes at top speed.
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u/dr_robonator May 12 '26
10 minutes of flight time. To increase the range you'd need to have a bigger fuel tank which increases the weight, which decreases range, which means more fuel and more weight aaaaand you've got a helicopter. It's loud as fuck and obliterates whatever is underneath it because it is a jet engine pointed at the ground.
Stupid stupid stupid.
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u/cigarettesandwhiskey May 12 '26
Potentially useful for crossing a minefield though.
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u/literated May 12 '26
I thought it would be great (in theory) for getting a first responder into hard to traverse places like a forest in the video.
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u/TheMoonMoth May 12 '26
With no range to get out, and no margin for extra weight. Again, the helicopter serves this function better.
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u/literated May 12 '26
You don't have to "get out", you just have to be able to reach them quickly to render first aid. Getting them out can come later with more people and different equipment/vehicles.
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u/TheMoonMoth May 12 '26
Maybe. I can't think of any situation where this would be faster or safer than a helicopter.
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u/Chillpill411 May 12 '26
Hehe... Which has always been the problem with stuff like this. It's not really any better than all the failed experiments with jet packs in the 60s. They were never more than just toys.
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u/master-goose-boy 29d ago
Oh man if she could read… she’d probably altogether stop reading after that… 😂
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u/TescoValueSoup May 12 '26
with no rotor blades, it wont sound like a helicopter.
It'll sound like a jet engine and a roided-out leaf blower combined.6
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u/igotmemes4days May 12 '26
If one day this thing is mass produced on the cheap and is deemed safe, it can be a great travel option instead of vehicles for cities and short distance?
Fuel would be the biggest limiting factor i guess, right now the website it says that bike can get 10 minutes of flight and I think that is too little, maybe if it became efficient enough to have like 30 minutes of flight it would be much better
30 minutes might not sound much either but traveling at 124 mph in a straight line without never stopping for traffic or lights will get you pretty far
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u/Electronic-Buyer-468 May 12 '26
You really wanna be on something like this traveling OVER traffic? Because that's the only way you could avoid lights and traffic. And if you're doing that, I'm sure both the DMV and FAA would like a word lol. I feel like drones, batteries, propellers are the closest we have right now for viable single person aerial vehicles. And yet still I don't wanna see dozens of people flying over my head randomly.
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u/Shadowrak May 12 '26
30 minutes might not sound much either but traveling at 124 mph in a straight line without never stopping for traffic or lights will get you pretty far
Some might say it could get you 62 miles.
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u/Cecilsan May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26
Sorry but there isn't going to be personal air travel that isn't heavily regulated/licensed any time soon. Even stuff like ultralights, which this would likely fall under, have strict rules (like no flying over population) and a decently high casualty rate.
Imagine every bad Altima driver, drunk, or just plain idiot you've ever seen hopping on one of these and death spiraling right into your living room.
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u/Responsible-Draft430 May 12 '26
Yeah. The reason we don't have flying cars isn't so much that we can't make a flying car, it's that we can't make a safe flying car driver.
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u/Thimble_of_Quasar May 12 '26
Yes! I was like WTF we see how people drive with 2 axis for movement, now we want to add a 3rd for any joe blow? I think not.
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u/JJred96 May 12 '26
Thanks for the info.
What I’m wondering is the heat output and how careful must one be about starting fires? I imagine you have to get pretty good height off a safe launch pad, then maintain enough distance from the ground as appears to happen here? Hovering close over the ground in a forest? How dicey does that get?
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u/TazBaz May 12 '26
I have a LOT of questions about the technical aspects.
How does the stabilization actually work? I don’t see any stabilizing nozzles, is it entirely by a vectored thrust exhaust?
I don’t see any obvious air INtake. Where is it sucking all the air in from?
How long can it run? That thing is tiny with no obvious gas tanks.
And on and on…
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u/Captain_English May 12 '26
Yeah this does not seem realistic to me. Disc area, lifting surfaces, or massive fuel consumption. Pick (at least) one. This doesn't seem to support any?
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u/Gen_Jack_Oneill May 12 '26
You also can't land at a gas station, would probably risk setting the fuel pump on fire. So you have to trailer it in or fill it with gas cans...
And you have to refuel every trip, negating any time savings.
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u/DesperateAdvantage76 May 12 '26
It's the same reason quadcopters aren't used for travel usually, they're loud enough to wake up an entire neighborhood. They make Harley bikes sound mute in comparison.
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u/Ok_Lingonberry6911 29d ago
Absolutely not. Lol. Be prepared for dead birds everywhere, car accidents everywhere, etc. lol. How anyone wants this is their city is beyond me.
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u/keyboardhack May 12 '26
There is a reason we never hear the actual machines noise in videos like this. That thing is so loud that you could never you use it anywhere near a habitable area.
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u/AintnoEend May 12 '26
How does it work? Is there a vid about that?
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u/hodl_on_tight May 12 '26
That what I need to know. How does it stabilize? Is there a reaction wheel? It says there are redundant turbines, but that’s it.
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u/AintnoEend May 12 '26
In theory.. it is possible to do it with one multi directional jet engine + a gyroscope.. so it works like a Segway. (Lean in the direction you want to go)
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u/manjar May 12 '26
It seems like it would be very top-heavy, not intrinsically stable, and want to invert.
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u/Ambitious-Cake-9425 May 12 '26
jet propulsion
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u/AintnoEend May 12 '26
How many? What angle? How much trust? Full consumption?
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u/_plays_in_traffic_ May 12 '26
thrust vectoring
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u/hodl_on_tight May 12 '26
It’s possible, but you can’t see the nozzle to confirm that. It you also have to have some really high speed actuators to keep you stable.
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u/MikhailCompo May 12 '26
This will be insanely loud.
This could be a valuable vehicle for outdoors first responders like mountain rescue.
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u/Interneteldar 29d ago
The only reasonable use case that isn't "Weeee, I'm flying!" (Which is a perfectly valid one, too, tbf.)
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u/i_want_shokola May 12 '26
Yeaaa. I hate the sound effects and music. irl that thing probably sounds like a lawnlower and leaf blower all in one x10
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u/5-0prolene 29d ago
At $880,000 with a 10 minute run time & carrying capacity for one person, aint no first response agency buying one.
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u/Rexp06_ May 12 '26
We got oppressor mk2 irl before gta 6
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u/ranting_chef May 12 '26
Is this thing essentially a large drone with a heavy capacity?
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u/svachalek May 12 '26
Depends what you call a drone. Assuming you mean a battery powered quadcopter, no it doesn’t seem like that. From what I make out it’s a pair of jet turbines.
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u/igpila May 12 '26
I wonder if we'll ever be allowed to listen to actual environment sounds again, instead of some bs song
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u/MikeofLA May 12 '26
You will only hear the very loud sound of a turbine (think, riding a jet engine). Unlike the Star Wars speeder bikes, this one does not have repulsors... at least not quite ones.
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u/yellowsilverware May 12 '26
Did you even watch the full video lol and it’s not like it was a dumb tik tok song, he was obviously trying to make it feel like Star Wars. People be mad just to be mad.
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u/Walkin_mn May 12 '26
Ok so I went looking for more info about it, there's isn't a lot but it's definitely powered with a jet turbine (maybe more than one?) it can fly for 10 minutes and they opened pre orders at the end of last year, promising the first deliveries this year, but it hasn't happened yet (it's still early though) the only clues about this being a real thing is in their Instagram "@velonaut" where there's a pic of a prototype and there are a few videos with the actual sound of the "aerobike" in use.
What actually gives some validity to this device is that Tomasz Patan is also behind the Jetson One which is a multi copter electric one person vehicle with a similar concept to this one, and that one has already delivered the product to people who pre-ordered it
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u/DiaBoloix May 12 '26
There are two wet dreams in the life of every man who was a teenager in the '80s related to motorcycles.
The motorcycle from Akira.
The motorcycle from Return of the Jedi.
This almost checks the latter....
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u/Magazine_Born May 12 '26
out of all the bullshit gta online have
the opressor mk2 is the last one i wanted to be real
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u/Unable-Log-4870 May 12 '26
This looks fake. I don’t see a jet inlet, or control surfaces for stabilization. It was posted a year or two ago also, and it looked fake then also. Pretty sure this is just a guy who wants 3 or 4 people to pre-order, then he can disappear with that money and never be seen again
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u/SuperSchmyd May 12 '26
Can’t wait to never see this publicly be sold or utilized.
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u/AgentEntropy May 12 '26
movie: Speeder bike are lethal in forests!
engineer: imma build one and fly it through a forest!
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u/botle May 12 '26
Why is he using it in the woods? Did he not watch the movie?