Chutes and Airbags for Flying Cars and Hovercrafts

You can buy and probably find online all kinds of books for learning to fly. Might I suggest to you just getting some books on soaring (sailplanes) and getting your license.

Not that you need to go for a pilot's license, but you will learn the principles of flight and why things are the way they are in the real world.

I'm not trying to be mean, but once you read some of those books you will have a better understanding of how ridiculous some of your thoughts and questions are.

You are just right about a pilot license, i will ask my friend to refresh my memory on the subject.

This is a question i was asking myself with the number of times i was in small planes, towing planers, going fishing on seaplanes, ski planes right to my door. My pilots friends would have liked me to own and be part of the pak. No it is not for me, i get bored flying. I flew probably too much for my job at times. A flying car is not for me either, although it may be perceived that my desire to fly an hovercraft is similar to flying a car being flying an apparatus outside the standard way of flying an engine invented for that. Dave flies a sailplane with his hairdryer on his back, please no.

For me flying low above shallows and above tiny islands of sand and sea grass is more of a fast , other way through obstacles. Yes with the kites, we fly over beaches etc, some idiots fly over people. Yes my friends like to TRY me but i am not competing, they woo hoo when they pass me, but i just don't care, and like in scubadiving i like to contemplate , not try to see the most in the shortest time. In heavy currents, scubaflying is the closest thing to being a flying man at very low speeds. Check on youtube Chasta snowkiting in the mountains, buy a projector and enjoy it on a large screen, sit on an airchair in case ...

The original concept of hovering on thin air is in my humble opinion, a sustainable way to pass over manatees without proping their head off, preserve marine life as much as possible. If it is possible to fly low, fast and over obstacles with 150% safety in mind, i am opened to it.

At the end of the day, all things considered, i will be faster than my friends and they can't do anything about it ... hahaha ... sh, it is windy and they are flying while i am sitting in front of my cpu. I just have to quit my job.

Your question reinforces my point of view. We can never have have flying cars with the average car driver in control. A pilot must pay attention and obey the law. A pilot must know what they are doing, understand the vehicle, understand emergency procedures and practice them from time to time. A pilot must check and understand the weather and have the strength to say "no" if it is not safe to operate. A pilot must refrain from aggressive operation, be awake, alert, alcohol and drug free. In case you haven't been keeping score we lost most people with "pay attantion".

No matter what arguments are made you will still have flying car drivers hurling a few dozen gallons of aviation gas through the sky over schools, hospitals, shopping centers and homes. With so many people who think they are not responsible for safety (as illustrated by your question) it is just not possible that we can allow aircraft (or flying cars) to be controlled by people who are not qualified pilots.

Yes, if everyone driving a car would be allowed to drive such vehicles, it calls for trouble. I see the flying hovercraft dont require a pilot lic. ... it seems to be question of height. They use basically the air compression formula 1 experience with soil. I think it is the same physics as the Tesla turbine surface air friction. It was likely a phenomenom to take into account with double wings. Although i suspect it was a structural matter primarily.

This is one of the concerns i have with the chutes. I think the chute has to be punched to avoid becoming a lifting kite.

In Quebec, for driving a motorcycle, one has to pass a class C permit, not a walk in the park venture ! The same should "must" be not a fly over the park venture, at least flight basics goes without saying. I have not skimmed the surface about traffic controlers ... AIS system and flight plans have to be enforced by the pilots (lets call them that) in the lag time for legislature to be put forward.

We fly kites with proper courses , not everyone is required to, and we see people already flying above swimmers, sunbathers (mostly impressionable chics, so they think ...) a fast lane for banning laws.

Nevertheless, at this stage, it will happen an already is. I havent seen yet much concern for security, look at youtube showing a chic behind the pilot of a flying hovercraft from New Zealand, what if it flips over. Wheuw ! not nervous ! i am more chicken than that, and i dont fly over people with my kite.

At the end of the day, the idea of the flying hovercraft has cought my attention, for many reasons, THIS is the machine we want for surfkiting schooling, we use skidoos for winter kiting. We got to go a little fast if a beginner (the guys mostly do ) wanders away too far in the adrenaline that riding a flying kite brings. As an anecdote, my wife fell down the stairs (missed the last 2 steps) and she sits jealously on her sofa with binoculars, she has a ball watching us try things and chase beginners. Of course i get the remarks on our kite superimposed trials. She will be flying in a week ... ! My friend said his skidoo is full of gas for her return ...

I like to develop on a subject so that people can see my thinking (with a little humor at times ) and perhaps bring to the table some original unthought of concept. My ideas dont always make it in their original concept, but this is the designers world.

One good example, i saw "try decaf" perhaps the airbags should be filled with coffee smell, it would calm them ... or maybe not ...

This question was to find out possibilities for making air bags and chutes but i appreciate your concerns about these flying apparatus.

You wrote, "it seems to be question of height."

It's a question of risk. The predominate factor is the number of such vehicles is the multiplier and because there are few there are few regulations.

i got the info on youtube universal hovercrafts comments that above 3 meters, you need a pilots license. So we are good to go ...

Concluding on this subject, it looks like i will go the route of the "mooning" jacket chute, that is the closet analogy i found to call it.

So the concept is to use what can be already onboard, i will design a blanket (insulating blanket) reinforced with kevlar, it will open in stages depending on the speed. Some of the speed will be reduced from air, and the rest ASAP to be done in water and/or sand. This a combo everyday, half panic and total panic braking system.

The principles i found on Cirrus web site is pretty much what i expected and experienced when surfkiting, load transfers, chicken loops, fuses, etc.

The great advantage of the electric motors for take off and arrive modes is that i can full throttle reverse. This one of the fun experienced from electric boats, all hp/torque available and little motor noise. Air bags will be part of the permanent cushionning outside and inside the craft.

I might call it the iguana design...lol lol.

Now i will be working on the gyro aspect of things, for stabilisation automatic control.

You said:

but this is above my competence for the time being.

Get a grasp on real world physics you must, or above your competence always it will be, Grasshopper.

I will keep it short. Ignoring hovercraft, flying cars (and other vehicles) have the same safety concerns as other flying vehicles employed today. Think of the flying car as a small personal jet (which exist today and have proven safety features and a proven safety record).

Mass deployment of flying cars will NOT start until traffic control and safety concerns are addressed, but the same sort of principles apply as they do to motor vehicles. Even automated vehicle self drive and automated vehicle avoidance systems, braking systems are being developed and tested for ground vehicles now-days.

We have to determine the "healthy" rate of deceleration, with chutes, water brakes, air bags.

Again car makers, commercial airplane manufacturers, air force, etc have been working on this since the birth of flight. You can even get parachutes for small airplanes that can safely drop the whole plane to the ground in the event of an engine failure of mid-air collision.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballistic_Recovery_Systems

http://cirrusaircraft.com/parachute/

etc.

Just think of a flying car as a road vehicle that can move in three dimensions at (or near) the speed existing road vehicles can move at.

thanks, this cirrus site is informative. My car pretty much weighs the same as a loaded hovercraft, we are looking to find old kites for testing. The ice on the lake is now full with cars, pickups etc we just need less snow. We will start at low speeds and see what we come up with. With my big kite, a 15 knots wind was enough for lifting 2 guys and part of the catamaran. The increase of speed will likely increase the forces E=1/2mv2.

These kites are pretty amazing, at the ends , there are blow out openings and "fuses" at each attachment of the deneema strings to the kite itself. We have seen a few loud blow outs when beginners (and not so beginners) crash their kites.

One of my friends came up with the idea of pre-blowned air bags, not all crazy because alot of injuries occur on boats with people falling. I guess i'll have to design the interior with that in mind. I am considering transfer blow out openings. i.e. transfer the air to a rear bag for the bounce back after shock likewise to the ceiling.

I think belts are a must, formula 1 belts of course.

Enemy #1 is speed. Motivated we are to go fast when no limits are imposed on us.

Speed? Pilots don't get into trouble by going too fast, but by going too slow (stall, spin, crash)

Exactly, but on an hovercraft, there is a preferable optimal speed (stability, mileage, weather) , at the end of the day, going up a boat ramp can be a problem if badly estimated. I like to go fast with my kite, and it is a thrill, but speed is still my enemy. I find the cirruschutes an excellent idea, wonder why nobody did it before. Like traction aids, a simple idea ... i am a water (ice) world man, but most people will want to use the gismos on solid, less forgiving, i show to my sceptic friends on youtube the various flying hovercrafts videos and their mouth are probably still wide open. Good thing its winter, bugs dont get into their mouth.

Enemy #1 is speed.

NO ! Enemy #1 is WIND. What are you going to do on a 2-lane roadway where you are 3 feet above the ground in a 30 mph crosswind? Or from any direction for that matter. Where is your braking friction? And it gets worse with gusts and trees or other structures to vary the direction. It's a cute gimmick in "Back to the Future", but don't hold your breath in real life.

Agreed, hovercraft are not good on a roadway. Even without other vehicles, they would tend to slide off the crown of the road. Perhaps some kind of hybrid that could run on wheels on a road and lift up on an air cushon to navigate lakes and fields would be workable.

exactly, beach kite buggies are a good example, and i certainly dont see why the hovercraft would not use a kite instead of propulsion props with proper winds.

Friction, friction, friction after all this is THE greatest factor to tame. Now we are tracking in the right direction, not hovering ... on roads, it depends, it is not my priority, but we see kite buggies in parking areas, and they are fast. I stoped, i got scared and the cops don't like it. Unless they try it with you ...

If you think that the earth bound road carnage is too high currently, what makes you think that flying cars and hovercraft will be any better, or that this scenario will result in a lesser degree of death and dismemberment?

There will be a mass increase of crash & burn. I pity the poor NTSB investigators as they'll never get a rest.

Leave the flying to FAA licensed pilots!

this is why i don't see a road use to flying cars, its hard enough to land with a cross wind, not even considering a moose on the runway ... for the Hovercraft , with ANY cross winds it will NOT be flying, it will be on "balloon wheels" on the hard , or sand, and on water, dagger boards and rudders will track it, like a catamaran. On the water, deep enough, kite and sail will supply partly or all the power with wind accordingly.

Thats the way i see it, but i will not be surprised to see looloos fly in cross winds anyway.

I'll try not to stand in the middle of the runway next time, okay? Mooooosssssseeeee!!!!!! LOL

Listen carefully YelloCat...

There are three important factors: Altitude, Speed and Brains. you only need two of them to fly.

Are you getting my point?...

Wangito.