Air Car

One-Man Flying Space Hopper Could Become The ' Air Car ' Of The Future

It might look like as space hopper surrounded by model helicopters, but the 16-rotor E-Volo is an entirely new kind of helicopter - which can hover motionless in the air without input from the pilot , Its bold engineer, Thomas Senkel, took the machine on its first manned flight this week - lasting 1 minute 30 seconds. It's not the first electric helicopter flight - but this is a new kind of machine, steered simply by joystick, with the pilot sitting above the rotors. Senkel says it could revolutionise transport. The three inventors claim their flying machine could be used for inspecting pipelines, as an air ambulance or for taking aerial photographs - as well as just for fun. Once they have solved the problem of how to keep it in the air for longer - and support more people - Senkel hopes it might replace helicopters for good. It's far easier to fly than ordinary helicopters - it's steered by rotor speed, which is computer-controlled, so the pilot just needs to use a joystick as if playing a videogame, rather than controlling multiple complex contorols at once.  Senkel describes the easy-to-use machine as 'good-natured' and potentially capable of replacing the helicopter in many situations. He added: 'Without any steering input it would just hover there on the spot.' The multicopter is currently only able to fly for around 20 minutes because it runs on lithium-ion batteries.  But E-volo hope rapidly developing technology will mean they can complete hour-long flights in the near future. A hybrid drive, in which a conventional internal combustion engine generates the electrical power, would already show an hour-long flight time.

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السيارة الطائرة ... سيارات المستقبل

سيارة تسع لشخص واحد , قد تبدو وأنك محاط بطائرات الهليوكبتر , في تجاربها الأولى من قبل المهندسين توماس وسينكل قالا بأنه يمكن أن تحلق لمدة ثلاثين دقيقة في الهواء بدون توجيه أو تدخل فيها , ويقول المهندسان عن تجربتهما الجريئة بأنه يمكن إستخدام مثل هذة النوعية من السيارات في الإسعافات أو الإطفاء أو التفتيش الدولي , ولكن لن تحل محل الطائرات الهليوكبتر في مثل هذه الحالات لكنها تجربة قوية وتحتاج إلى الدعم من جميع الجهات