Roost Air Lounge => Aviation related topics => Topic started by: Frank N. O. on March 27, 2006, 04:20:30 PM
Title: The Hummingbird Aerobatics concept
Post by: Frank N. O. on March 27, 2006, 04:20:30 PM
To try and get some discussion going on here after a slow weekend (posting-wise, I myself had a lot on my mind) then how's this for a new plane project, The Hummingbird.
I myself have thought of ducted counter-rotating fans although not quite for lift as it appears this design aims for, the FAQ section is interesting, if it's true of course, but what do you real flyers out there think?
http://www.esotec.co.nz/hb/HTML/Drawings.html
Frank
Title: Re: The Hummingbird Aerobatics concept
Post by: Gulfstream Driver on March 27, 2006, 06:53:21 PM
Looks interesting. If it gets built and actually flies, it'll turn aerobatic flying on its ear.
Title: Re: The Hummingbird Aerobatics concept
Post by: fireflyr on March 28, 2006, 01:04:34 AM
CURIOUSER and CURIUOSER ??? ???
There are some really radical ideas out there but I can remember when some folks wondered if Burt Rutan had a screw loose so I'll never be too critical of any new ideas, no matter how far fetched they seem. After all, there have been too few leaps in aviation technology in the last 50 years for us to ignore clean sheet designs----sooner or later one of them will work beyond our wildest dreams and folks will be wondering why it hadn't been thought of before. I predict that you young aviator types are going to see some really exciting inovations in your lifetimes because of the new man-made building materials and also because of the ever increasing power of faster computers with which to implement radical aerodynamic ideas.
I'd love to see this one work. 8)
Title: Re: The Hummingbird Aerobatics concept
Post by: C310RCaptian on March 28, 2006, 04:11:09 PM
I think it would work based on the same principal that helicopters work… Its just so ugly that earth will repel it. No offense to you sling wing guys. ;D But who said everything has to look good. It would be interesting to see if it does work but just like the ducted fan engines and winglets were treated at first, the public will reject it just because it looks funny. I personally would like to see it fly just because it is something new. O and to another post I saw Cessna is designing a new single engine aircraft. Might be a cross between a 206 and a 210. I read it in a magazine, I believe it was in “Flying” . I will try and find the article later… when the boss isn’t looking… ;D
Title: Re: The Hummingbird Aerobatics concept
Post by: Frank N. O. on March 28, 2006, 10:41:17 PM
Here's some competition for Moller (I wonder if his family is from Scandinavia? There's a popular family-name called Møller (Miller)).
I like the idea on new small planes but they write about escaping traffic-jams in big cities like in LA (written about the Moller) and that scares the heck of me! No way in would I want a normal commuter to manually control a flying machine, especially not a light nimble one that easily go into a spin, near other traffic and buildings etc. I did hear though that the Highway In The Skies would be fairly automated but the NASA video I saw still showed a manually held control-joystick but they said it would be as easy as driving a car and seeing as how people drive cars then that scares me a lot! In my humble oppinion then either you're a pilot or you're a passenger, either you control the plane completely and let the plane control itself completely with you just giving the destination and then not touch any controls. What do you think?
The idea of a flying/driving vehicle would be ok though I guess but only if the switch happend at an airport, and that the vehicle would have to fly like any other planes meaning not into downtown at low altitude apart from purpose-made helipads.
Frank
Title: Re: The Hummingbird Aerobatics concept
Post by: Ted_Stryker on March 28, 2006, 10:48:42 PM
I like the idea on new small planes but they write about escaping traffic-jams in big cities like in LA (written about the Moller) and that scares the heck of me! No way in would I want a normal commuter to manually control a flying machine, especially not a light nimble one that easily go into a spin, near other traffic and buildings etc. I did hear though that the Highway In The Skies would be fairly automated but the NASA video I saw still showed a manually held control-joystick but they said it would be as easy as driving a car and seeing as how people drive cars then that scares me a lot! In my humble oppinion then either you're a pilot or you're a passenger, either you control the plane completely and let the plane control itself completely with you just giving the destination and then not touch any controls. What do you think?
The idea of a flying/driving vehicle would be ok though I guess but only if the switch happend at an airport, and that the vehicle would have to fly like any other planes meaning not into downtown at low altitude apart from purpose-made helipads.
Frank
Purely from a safety perspective, I'd be in favor of an automated land vehicle that you punch in destination into and it drives for you on the roadways, with allowance for manual override only in emergencies or system failure. Frankly, the everyday person has enough problems navigating in two dimensions. Putting them in 3 dimensions is asking for trouble.
I'll probably end up like Bill Gates, who once said "Nobody will ever need more than 64KB of RAM"... but I think it's going to be a long time before we have true air commuting vehicles like they show in movies like "The Fifth Element", or "Blade Runner". It'd be nice... but I think pigs will be flying first... at least in the first half of the 21st century. 2nd half... maybe.... but between politics, and and other forms of stupidity... I just don't see it in the near-term pragmatically.
Title: Re: The Hummingbird Aerobatics concept
Post by: Gulfstream Driver on March 29, 2006, 12:00:25 AM
The 150/152 was designed as a commuter. I think the theory was you could live in a suburb near an airport, and fly into the city. Too bad it actually takes longer than just hopping in your car and driving to work.
The 50's or 60's (I can't remember which) saw the Aerocar. Interesting idea, but it flopped pretty hard.
Title: Re: The Hummingbird Aerobatics concept
Post by: madpilot44 on March 29, 2006, 05:33:02 AM
the idea behind it kind of reminds me of the optica (http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0368090/L/), which was designed as an aerial observation platform, cheaper than sling-wings, but still able to do slow flying and have a good endurance. the production ended after the factory was destroyed in a fire after quite a few (I don't know exactly how many) planes were built
Title: Re: The Hummingbird Aerobatics concept
Post by: Ted_Stryker on March 29, 2006, 05:06:01 PM
the idea behind it kind of reminds me of the optica (http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0368090/L/), which was designed as an aerial observation platform, cheaper than sling-wings, but still able to do slow flying and have a good endurance. the production ended after the factory was destroyed in a fire after quite a few (I don't know exactly how many) planes were built
Very cool!!!! I like!!! Sad to hear the production of them stopped under such conditions too. Looks like it is quite an aircraft!
Title: Re: The Hummingbird Aerobatics concept
Post by: Mike on March 29, 2006, 10:39:26 PM
maybe this concept is the wave of the future and the fire was no accident.... :-X
Title: Re: The Hummingbird Aerobatics concept
Post by: Ted_Stryker on March 29, 2006, 10:54:18 PM
maybe this concept is the wave of the future and the fire was no accident.... :-X
Hmm... a conspiracy theory, eh?
Well, as I've always said... it's not paranoia if they really ARE out to get you! ;D
Title: Re: The Hummingbird Aerobatics concept
Post by: madpilot44 on March 30, 2006, 01:32:21 AM
what I heard is that the fire was started by an angry ex-worker of the factory... will have to dig further into that though
Title: Re: The Hummingbird Aerobatics concept
Post by: Frank N. O. on March 30, 2006, 11:05:52 PM
Strange, the plane does seem interesting, also with the ducted fan, and speaking of ducted fan-planes, here's a third one, the Fantrainer (pardon me for not mentioning the full name but it's quite long). It's a cool looking plane though, single- and two-seat versions were made.
And lastly, does anyone know of the concept plane designed by Luigi Colani called the Colani XII? I only have one picture of it and no info, and while it's clear it's just a scale model of a concept then it could be interesting if there was further info for it.
Frank
Title: Re: The Hummingbird Aerobatics concept
Post by: Roland on March 31, 2006, 12:53:41 PM
Try this and dont ask me for this stupide home page address
Title: Re: The Hummingbird Aerobatics concept
Post by: Gulfstream Driver on March 31, 2006, 05:07:16 PM
How do you get in it? I'd be afraid to climb on it, lest I break it. :-\
Title: Re: The Hummingbird Aerobatics concept
Post by: Frank N. O. on April 02, 2006, 04:56:03 PM
LOL that's quite a link, but I can calm you that this is not the Colani XII, it looks a lot more normal :D
Colani actually designed several other flying concepts and all other maners of vehicles and contraptions as well as clothing (if you could call those strans of cloth on the model clothing, it seems the natural shapes he's inspired by also includes the shapes of adult human females).
Frank
Title: Re: The Hummingbird Aerobatics concept
Post by: fireflyr on April 02, 2006, 11:33:15 PM
There's a good many of us who are ::)"inspired" ::) by the shape of human females! (Brokeback cowboys exempted) ;D
Title: Re: The Hummingbird Aerobatics concept
Post by: fireflyr on April 03, 2006, 02:15:48 AM
YA wanna talk about something revolutionary? Look up 'Custer channelwing.com' --here's a guy in the 1930s who developed an aircraft with extreme STOL characteristics and was dismissed as a crackpot---Men (and women) like he and Northrop were thought to be too unconventional by the aviation community and died in obscurity---too bad because their thinking was eons ahead of conventional engineering That's why it's so important to look at people like Frank N.O, and listen to their ideas---Burt Rutan is a good example of "unconventional" wisdom. Let's hear more of the screwy ideas from these people because that's the future of aviation!
Title: Re: The Hummingbird Aerobatics concept
Post by: Frank N. O. on April 05, 2006, 02:03:54 AM
I think I've seen that Channelwing plane before, it uses similar principles as ducted fan propulsion but more aimed towards lift as well right? (just guessing, I just saw the picture).
Btw, who mentioned a Speedwing plane? I tried googling for it but couldn't find anything but kites and a cub-like ultralight. I do remember another really weird plane-concept, it looked like you made wings from a hand-pushed lawn-mover (that transverse drum-design). There was even a R/C model flying of it, I think. Another one again was a variation of the normal wing but the plane was suspended so the main wing could tilt a little to smoothen out the flight, it was tested with a re-buildt small high-wing plane, maybe a C150/152, can't remember for sure, it was some time ago.
Thanks for the kind words btw :) Speaking of Burt Rutan then I remember a edited photo of a WWII US bomber made into a canard-design and the text: If Burt Rutan lived during WWII, or something like that. I can upload it if you want.
Frank
Title: Re: The Hummingbird Aerobatics concept
Post by: Gulfstream Driver on April 05, 2006, 05:17:25 PM
Thanks for the kind words btw :) Speaking of Burt Rutan then I remember a edited photo of a WWII US bomber made into a canard-design and the text: If Burt Rutan lived during WWII, or something like that. I can upload it if you want.
That would be great!
Title: Re: The Hummingbird Aerobatics concept
Post by: Frank N. O. on April 06, 2006, 02:18:26 AM
Here you go.
Frank
Title: Re: The Hummingbird Aerobatics concept
Post by: fireflyr on April 06, 2006, 02:27:07 AM
HOHOHO! ;D Neat looking B-17---and they could have built it out of non-strategic materials (foam--which of course hadn't been invented yet) like the Spruse Goose (plywood-which, of course had been invented) ;D
