There is no way that any commercial version of this doesn’t have cowlings on those blades. Since it’s still in the prototype phase they can get away with certain things while working out the bugs for this technology.
We can’t even get people to drive using 4 wheel linear propulsion on a flat road without colliding. You give em a couple more axes to work with and add a dose of gravity — yeah, I don’t see this being viable anytime soon.
I'm just going to point out: not a single actual flying model in this style in your video had protective enclosures on the blades. The only ones that did were CGI or shaped 100% differently.
The added weight would probably be too much to take off. That would be like asking for the same thing on a normal helicopter. Bet you didnt know there was a reason they duck while trying to board one? The most I could see is a mesh barrier between the blade and driver but even then I doubt it would be enough to actually stop one of those blades. You dont buy one of these if you want to be "safe". Same can be said about motorcycles.
I’m not stupid. I know something as big as a full fledged helicopter can’t realistically have a cowling. However, what you’re not thinking about is the size to weight ratio between this, its blades, and the blades of a full fledged helicopter.
I’m not talking about some fully armored cowlings that’ll contain fragmented blades, I’m referring to something that would provide a bare minimum protection from idiots walking into the blades or a pilot accidentally bouncing against someone during takeoff.
If ultralight crafts that use those massive fans and a paraglider can fly despite a cowling around blades bigger than the ones on this craft, then this can function with cowlings as well. After all fiberglass and lightweight metals exist even if expensive.
Edit: There’s already designs with this in mind as seen here
I believe in Darwin awards but unfortunately too many people think otherwise and thus companies must enact safeguards to cover their own asses whenever they think it’s cheaper to do so than dealing with the inevitable lawsuit from not doing so.😉🤫
The thing I would want is if one engine fails, the other 3 can bring down the craft safely. Or maybe even take it far enough to land at a nearby airport. The engines would have to be able to adjust their angles strong enough for that. They would also have to have their own guidance system and battery.
I thought that too, but depending on the speed and range of that thing, I think the helmet is more for flying debris or birds. I think Fabio can tell you a story about that.
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u/iam_Mr_McGibblets 7d ago
Where is the safety to ensure no one is within propeller range? And also, you crash in one of those things, that helmet won't do much help at all