bl@hplabsb.UUCP (03/08/85)
Too bad no one asked about it two weeks ago; I just threw out the newspaper article that I had posted on my wall. However, I'll relate what I remember. The article had a picture of it in flight, albeit hovering three feet of the ground. It has eight engines driving eight ducted fans. It's not clear if it ever flew any distance horizontally as the inventor likened its aerodynamics to that of a rock. Apparently, translational flight would be accomplished by tipping it in the direction one wants to go. The newspaper article was a "gee wiz" type of writing and did not give too many technical details such as how one controls the thrust on eight engines at the same time. The last line said that the inventor had abandoned the current design for something with more aerodynamics that would resemble a sting ray.
ron@brl-tgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (03/11/85)
> Too bad no one asked about it two weeks ago; I just threw out the newspaper > article that I had posted on my wall. However, I'll relate what I remember. > The article had a picture of it in flight, albeit hovering three feet of the > ground. Great, does it ever get out of ground effect?
bl@hplabsb.UUCP (03/16/85)
While the picture I had showed it flying three feet off the ground, there was no intent by me or the designer to imply that was all it was capable of doing. Apparently the craft is so unstable that the designer was just too chicken to try flying it higher or in horizontal flight. I don't know what Neman Marcus (sp?) was selling. Marcus's top item is usually a publicity stunt priced so high that no sane person would buy it. However, if people will buy rocks in cute boxes, there must be someone with more money than brains who would but it.