At the beginning of the fourth Bond film, 007 escapes from a French château with a jetpack. While the jetpack has yet to take off for those of us who aren’t secret agents, there is a way for anyone to fly just like Bond. It can’t lift a full-scale human yet, but [Rodger]’s Project Thunderball can let a mannequin hover for several minutes.
The stand in for [Sean Connery] in [Rodger]’s build is a 2.2 lb mannequin – actually an ‘inflatable companion’, if you will – stuffed with styrofoam peanuts. The actual jet pack is a quadcopter souped up with larger motors, propellers, and enough batteries to deliver 1kW. There’s no belt for this quad; the mannequin rides the machine like you would a horse, straddling the electronics while very high-speed props spin just inches away from the tender bits of an inflatable plastic doll.
[Rodger] is able to get about 8 minutes of hover time out of his quadpack, an impressive feat that also allows his flying machine to deliver beer and pizzas.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLjA1Lmfcq8&w=580]
Oh man, I can just imagine somebody passing by and seeing the dummy land flat on its face then laying motionless.
I’m picturing all the neighbors who were still out of the ‘loop’ calling the cops going “Yeah! really! There was a guy… flying down my street… on a weed eater! Or at least that’s what it sounded like”. :D
Would make a great gag for Halloween… just rig up a prop broom and a pointy hat on it!
Like this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcDN409ZBv4
Heh, exactly! But for some reason having the ability to hover (although not very quietly) has a certain appeal for trying to scare the crap out of unsuspecting children…
That can make for some realistic super hero flight. All one need do is morph a 3D image of a person into that video replacing the air craft and he or she will appear to be flying.
I want to buy this for my mother in law.
That is the Thunderballs! Not practical but cool!
“Inflatable companion”….
HA!
I lol-d too hard yesterday when I read that
World’s first manned flight with an electric multicopter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L75ESD9PBOw
Is my idea for a quadcopter based, ceiling painting robot viable? http://www.wallpaintingrobot.com
I used the assumption 1 kw ==> 1 kg of lift based on the article. Is that correct?
Sorry to say this, but the jet pack in Thunderball was real. Does not really qualify it as a “ridiculous” gadget does it?