Gizmodo

Glad they've got several paint jobs in mind. Now if only we had any reason to believe they could get that...

You just *know* it's another investment scam a la Moller... but I still want one. :)

interesting, but could my wife parallel park it?

I think there's a typo in the press release.
It should say the Faux Salker...

Consider me shocked if this is released before Duke Nukem Forever.

People can't change their oil, fix their tires, or even ensure they're inflated.
As long as a person must obtain a pilots license for this, I'm fine with it.

I, too, would love for it to be real. And it is true that they can probably take advantage of some of the advances from the V-22. On the other hand, a start-up producing a tilt-rotor aircraft, and claiming that they'll have a full-scale prototype within the year? I have some wonderful beach front property in Uzbekistan to sell to their investors.

I'm no aircraft engineer, but it seems to me that craft looks pretty imbalanced. For VTOL wouldn't you need the rotors positioned evenly around the center of gravity? I suppose that front landing gear could convert to a canard so that the flight surfaces are properly positioned...

Whatever. I'm not interested in reality. It's a sexy beast and if they can make it weigh less than 1320 lbs and less than $30k, I'm in.

More Falx advertisement?

@weatherman: Maybe the weight of the motors (and whatever else they've put in the rear areas) offsets the weight of the front part?

If someone eventually does somehow manage to create a private aircraft for the average consumer market (i.e. all of the "future" representations like Jetsons, and Futurama et al) can you imagine the logistics of that many aircraft actually trying to navigate our skies?? People can't even manage to stay on the road and not kill each other using 2 axis navigation...let alone 3. Scary!

...but I still want one!!! :D

I think they're bearing falx witness! Improbable? Yeah, probably so, if previous pie-in-the-sky-and-ultimately-unfulfilled promises in this arena are an indicator of future outcomes.

You all are forgetting about the hybrid part too.

These guys are either idiots or GREAT con-men.

Isn't it enough that we have to dodge drunk drivers on the ground? We need to be looking up all the time too?

@schrosa:
Yeah. They should go falx themselves.

@SgtMac02: Who says you're going to be driving it? Once it takes off the ground, autopilot will be a lot easier to implement.

This reminds of a show I used to watch a long time ago, I think it was in the 80's and early 90's, called Beyond 2000. They had an episode on a flying car, and showed pictures and stuff, and were like "it's right around the corner. Everyone will have a flying car soon."

lol

nice computer graphics (NCG from now on)

i'll take the COPS version!

@weatherman: "For VTOL wouldn't you need the rotors positioned evenly around the center of gravity?"

True, but positioning the rotors away from the passenger compartment helps prevent this:

+ Watch video

HAIL DEATH RIDER!!!

(Waddya know, it works here too!)

I really don't think the name FALX will help with credibility of the product either (I thought it was some kind of parody when I saw the poster).

This, I command!!!

(But it looks more like something Destro would drive)

@SgtMac02:
Exactly. Every time I hear about how we're going to have private flying vehicles instead of road-bound cars, I consider the following:

1. What happens when (not if) you run out of gas midflight?
2. What happens when (not if) you suffer a malfunction midflight?
3. What happens when (not if) some dingus gets behind the stick in a state of advanced inebriation?
4. What happens when (not if) some waster of oxygen is drag racing across the sky, and all three of the previous instances occur simultaneously?

Most people can barely handle driving in two dimensions. Adding a third is just going to get innocent people crushed when these start dropping out of the sky.

AeroCars, Jetpacks, Moller, Solotrek, why this people makes us cry?

All I know is that I'll bet my money on this before I back PsyStar !!

@Purple Dave: yeah - but it'll help thing out the herd_

.

@Purple Dave: yeah - but it'll help thin* out the herd_

With the awful operating history of the V-22, and the low survivability, what chance does this little private tilt rotor have in the real world? What benefit would this have over a small helicopter, say, an OH-6A Cayuse, or the like?

@uberfu: LOL. Who could've thought that the ultimate answer can be compressed into a mere punctuation mark.

@Kaiser-Machead:
. = 42 ?

Perhaps, but this is Gizmodo, not Magrathea. Now quiet, the show's back on.

@Purple Dave: most people? that's a little much. some people.

people adapt. they learn. It sounds complicated now, but after a little bit of practice I bet quite a few would become rather good at it.

If people can't keep from get lacerated by a robotic lawnmower, what makes them think they won't get decapated by these

@Purple Dave:
That's the day we all start wearing steel helmets... lots of people have problems navigating a 2D surface on a car... can you imagine FLYING in 3D????

God help us...

On another note I bet the company is started by engineers that worked on the Osprey V-22... They took the technical know how... and now they are cashing in....

there are plenty of working concepts of these things. Just that the FAA doesn't approve them and fines,sues those that attempt to make em. Good luck to those brave people.

@weatherman:

I was thinking the exact same thing. Just looking at its design it would tilt forward and assume forward flight immediately, unless the canards tilt slightly back, making the nose tilt down in a hover.

i'm a pilot of civilian, experimental, and rotary wing aircraft. i'm also an engineer for a major aircraft manufacturer. to keep a long story short, it ain't gonna happen cap'n. for sooooo many reasons.

@yuriythebest:
Bollocks.

Looks like an Osprey. All they do is crash.

@uberfu:

Dude.

How many warnings do you need about the period posting?

You've been informed in threads by myself and other users.

I personally left you a message in your profile.

Are you stupid or just ignorant?

@strider_mt2k: Where's a banhammer when you need one?

@bosskev:
I have a feeling we're going to find out.

@strider_mt2k: Maybe we're taking his comment out of its chronological context. Perhaps its a period piece.

* collective groans *

@Purple Dave:

And what happens when eighteen thousand of these happen to be in the air above a city when I come through in my REAL airplane?

Like dodging seniors on a Tuesday at Wal-Mart.

Ok, that's like shrinking warp engines down to the size of a wallnut

needs more cowbell...

1. This may work as a fixed-wing aircraft, but will never hover.... the C of G is all wrong with layout as shown on their website.... it appears as though virtually all the mass is ahead of the rotors... and oh yes, where is (are) the engine(s)?

2. Hybrid electric????? never happen... batteries are too much dead weight (more dead wight = less useful load) and no aircraft can afford the weight of unused powerplants and oversized generators. BTW... no mention of hybrid powerplants on their website.

3. These guys want investment money and they haven't even built an R/C model to wow the suckers into opening their wallets?

4. Move along folks... nothing here to see...

Now you too can experience the excitement of dissymnetry of lift and settling with power any time you want!

No thanks.

Do not believe.

A friend of mine was killed in an training exercise in one of those Osprey POS's. He and the rest of the Marines on-board were killed instantly. NO FRIGGIN' WAY would I entrust myself or my family to this technology.

It appears they have changed the site and added a few comments. While i am not a true believer, I will say, if they can pull this off then they will be far ahead of the usual "moller's" of the world. Lets wait and see...

@uberfu:
Remember. If you're below someone who's flying one of these, you _ARE_ the herd.

@froggy:
They haven't yet. Why would they start when given something more complicated? The only reason that people manage to keep cars on the road is that gravity takes care of the heavy work, and they only have to keep track of Left and Right. Joe Average doesn't _think_ in 3D, and his innebriated cousin doesn't think at all.