Moller Skycar

[Spete2000]

Hi All,

I've been out of town for a while and have not visited very often. We were looking for small MAV/UAV vehicles when the Moller Skycar was mentioned. By coincidence, I found new information on it in Newsfactor Magazine, June 2006 Issue. It gives a little information, but, it also gave the Internet Address for it. It is: http://www.moller.com/skycar. The site gives quite a lot of history and the new Skycar information.

I think the previous post for this was back in February, 2006.

Respects,

Steve

[Tuner]

That is what inspired my design.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=436841

The history of the sky car is amazing. The fact that it has gone through so many versions without giving up is amazing.

I think the odds of successfully building a scale version of this and flying it are up their with a Harrier though probably easier.

Id do it with 90-120mm dia. fans.

Gotta love the sky car you can buy one for only a million though I think thier was only one forsale.

Scott

[Troy]

You couldn't pay me to fly in a sky car. One of those motors quit, you're done. Even helos can glide home. You can always invest in his company though, or buy one of his T-shirts.

This is more likely to work in a practical world and it has a ballistic parachute:
http://www.trekaero.com
http://www.trekaero.com/Springtail/flightsm.jpg

[clolson]

I've seen a demo of an R/C helicopter sized version of the trekaero design (with two ducted fans.) Change the relative motor rpms and you get roll, tilt the fans oposite of each other and you get yaw, tilt them together in the same direction and you get pitch. Their R/C scale unit uses a xbow unav for rate damping. Without this, you would probably need to be at least a partial diety to fly the thing. But with the unav onboard keeping things sane, it flies much like a standard R/C helicopter.

Really a neat little unit, and because the ducting protects the fan blades, you can send it tumbling with little or no damage. (Unlike an R/C helicopter which proceeds to beat itself to death if you go wrong side up at ground level.) :-)

Curt.

[Troy]

Not to brag but I helped build some ducts for the big Trek during R&D. I was glad to see it hover and that they went to more automated controls. The little RC one is cool, just looks a little low on power or a wee bit heavy. Concept is solid.

[Sparky Paul]

The Moller is a money sink.. intended to bring in the cash, without ever delivering a useful vehicle.

[space_case]

You couldn't pay me to fly in a sky car. One of those motors quit, you're done.

I believe there are two engines at each of the four points, so two in the same spot would have to go before you had any real problems.

I've wondered about all of the R&D money and a deliverable myself. I think you can get stock for about 80 cents. Could be a great thing IF they went into production afterwards.

[Troy]

I stand corrected...
My other gripe with this design was the screeching noise those (8) motors and ducted fans produce. While it's possible to quiet the interior cabin (but probably not enough) imagine several hundred of these cruising over the city. It would sound like an Indy or F1 race 24-7. At a time when airports are getting their huevos squeezed because of increased traffic and Stage III noise regulations, the aviation industry is trying to phase out all of the noisy stuff.

[Sparky Paul]

I stand corrected...
My other gripe with this design was the screeching noise those (8) motors and ducted fans produce. While it's possible to quiet the interior cabin (but probably not enough) imagine several hundred of these cruising over the city. It would sound like an Indy or F1 race 24-7. At a time when airports are getting their huevos squeezed because of increased traffic and Stage III noise regulations, the aviation industry is trying to phase out all of the noisy stuff.
.
And cell-phoning and eating and changing the CD and beating on the kids in the back seat..

[corndog]

The Moller is a money sink.. intended to bring in the cash, without ever delivering a useful vehicle.You must have more insight to Mollers operations than just reading on thier website because that is exactly what is going on. I remember reading a popular science from like 1989 which stated the car would be realeased for production later in the year. Paul Moller is very sharp, no question about that but, its a wonder how he is still in "business". Im sure he has several pending lawsuits. They laid off over 75% of thier staff a year or so ago. I believe they have the stabilzation worked out, thier major obstacle now is horsepower(and money). The rotaries dont make enough power to get out of ground effect. Things have gotten a little odd lately with Paul becoming interested in "life extension" because he thinks he may not be around long enough to see the Skycar go into actual production. As a result, he has started his own Almond Butter business because of its health benefits. Also he has started a seperate company selling rotary engines. Perhaps these businesses are started as preperation for a suplimental income should the Skycar fail. In any case, the odds are he wont see his car mass produced in his lifetime which is a real shame. The countless hours and dollars spent developing the car to this point is something that shouldnt be wasted.

[Sparky Paul]

..The countless hours and dollars spent developing the car to this point is something that shouldnt be wasted.
.
They have been.
The process was shown unworkable years ago.