ZAPATA
4 HN mentions · mentioned in 4 months, 2016–2017
2:25 · 8.9M views · Apr 9, 2016
Promotional video from Zapata Racing showing Franky Zapata flying the Flyboard Air prototype, claiming autonomous flight to 10,000 feet, 150 km/h top speed and 10 minutes of endurance.
Cited in threads on personal flight and hoverboards as evidence that jet-powered personal flight devices really exist.
4 comments from Hacker News
Moller makes the same claims over and over, and adjusts the proposed completion date on the web site year after year to be about three years in the future. (Long discussion of this on the Wikipedia talk page.) He's been in trouble with the SEC for overclaiming to investors. His product has been "real soon now" since the 1970s. Here's his 1974 brochure.[1] Full-scale production was to begin by the end of 1976. Moller was trying to build a VTOL powered by Wankel engines. His company was trying to build Wankels with much better power to weight ratios than usual. As usual, this resulted in much reduced engine lifespan. (Classic tradeoff, as everybody in drag racing knows.) He's been able to build a vehicle that can get off the ground, and hover a bit, tethered from a crane, for 2-3 minutes. Pure-thrust VTOL is quite possible with jet engines. The aircraft that do it, such as the Harrier and the F-35, are fighters, which are mostly engine anyway. It can be done, but not at low cost or high payload or high efficiency. Jet engines remain expensive. Despite many attempts, small, cheap, reliable jet engines remain out of reach. Below 6-passenger bizjet size, reliable engines don't seem to get much cheaper. There are cheap high-powered small jet engines with model aircraft levels of reliability and a life of 100 hours or so. That's how the Flyboard Air does it.[2] Not being stupid, they always fly this over water at low altitudes. [1] [LINK] [2] this video
Now figure this one out: this video (volume warning) Best theory so far it is it just a quadcopter with some greenscreen video photoshopping But if it is somehow real, wow. Imagine THOSE all over your city. That is the same guy who make the water based one that attached to jetskis I just cannot fathom any portable powersource that would produce that much energy for that much weight over 10 minutes. Even large scale RC engines have weight limits below a fully grown man.
Looks like a nice competition: Jetpack Aviation JB-9/JB-10 (from this article): [LINK] * Specs from [LINK] : - Up to 10,000+ feet - Top speed > 100mph (>160kph) - Max flight time: 10+ minutes Flyboard Air: this video * Specs from [LINK] : - Up to 10,000 feet - Top speed of 93.2 mph (150 km/h) - Max flight time: 10 minutes
The "Flyboard Air" is also interesting [0] (and almost definitely not a hoax!). The inventor was recently in the news [1] saying he would have to leave France because the aviation authorities were cracking down and limiting his ability to test the craft. [0] this video [1] [LINK]