Comment by Rui Manuel Cravo Marques on November 2, 2011 at 4:44am

I received that video 5m ago via facebook and it looked amazing... finally one that can really lift off and maintain stable, however, I believe they should mount some structure around the propellers... In case of an emergency land or a broken frame, that could make serious injuries. I would like to see one with those enormous turnigy motors CA120-70 eheheheh. Great flight nevertheless, nerves of steel :)

Comment by Jaques Viljoen on November 2, 2011 at 6:54am

Awesome! (Except for the current safety risks...)

 

Go E-Volo

Comment by Jan Detlefsen on November 2, 2011 at 7:24am

i believe you have to sit in or near the point of gravity to get a stable flight. also this is a prototype, the design concepts all have shields around the props. http://e-volo.com/Design_Studies.html

Comment by Ellison Chan on November 2, 2011 at 8:05am

This picture from the E-Volo web site reminds me of Ezekiel 1:16

"The appearance of the wheels and their work like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel."

 

Comment by John Hestness on November 2, 2011 at 8:35am

Awesome! These are exciting times we live in. Question #1 How many watts does it take for a person to fly in a quadcopter?

Comment by Daniel Hibben on November 2, 2011 at 9:00am

 i just watched Garys video of the bird man, i love that guy. i think that our society needs people like these guys and even the bird man to show us what is possible if we try. people here are worried about prop guards but if it all goes wrong i don't think a band of aluminum will stop these props from causing some damage  someone else here said that the wright brothers flew with open props and chain drives next to there heads! if not for people that are willing take risks like these we would still be walking. think of how crazy the first guy to suggest that he could get on the back of a 1500 lbs animal and ride it around sounded to his peers. now little girls ride horses all the time for fun. and honestly i think that this guy on the multicopter had a better chance of a horrible death driving to the airfield in his BMW than on the test flight we need risk takers and innovators and when the two are combined into the same person that is when the world is changed forever.

Comment by Trent at MyGeekShow on November 2, 2011 at 10:43am

Is that an exercise ball he's sitting on? Awesome shock absorber! : )

 

Very well done, can't wait to see where this effort goes!!!

Comment by lfniederauer on November 2, 2011 at 7:50pm

a chinese guy is already flying with a multi-copter using motorcycle engines... that one is nuts!!

Comment by Brad Hughey on November 3, 2011 at 8:18am

Yes, Chris, he had a helmet.  This proves it can be done with off-the-shelf components (especially now that there are very high discharge rate batteries available).  It will be interesting to see how they plan to scale that design.  In any event, we are seeing the dawn of affordable personal aviation, and I look forward to healthy competition.

Comment by Brad Hughey on November 3, 2011 at 10:45am

It's hard to estimate the weight of that frame, but that's about 70 pounds of batteries, about 150 pounds of aluminum, 180 pounds of pilot, 50 pounds of motors, hardware and wire, and a 5-pound rubber ball.

I assume the E-Volo craft is using 32 inch commercially-made props (the largest I've ever seen), so figuring the total weight of their craft is 455 pounds, I calculate an induced velocity at each disk of 32.72 ft/sec for an ideal power of 1,262 watts.  The best figure-of-merit I've ever measured in static thrust for a model plane propeller is about .35, so we'll give them the benefit of the doubt and call it FM=40.  That's 3,155 watts at the disk.  Assuming the efficiency of the motor is about 80 percent until it gets VERY hot, that's asking for 3,944 watts from the battery.  I remember someone saying that they saw two 6-cell 5800 2 li-polys for each motor, so that means a 20.4 volt rail under load at 193.3 amps.  Not counting Peukert effect or other losses, that means they've a maximum of 3.6 minutes of flight time in out-of-ground-effect hover. 

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