Hybrid of the Sky

I was a member of the Bell Helicopter Muti Service Test Team on the V-22 Osprey and would LOVE to get my hands on one of these babies....I had many years in the helicopter industry and would even love to put one together. Any word on possible kits?

I was a member of the Bell Helicopter Muti Service Test Team on the V-22 Osprey and would LOVE to get my hands on one of these babies....I had many years in the helicopter industry and would even love to put one together. Any word on possible kits?

The concept obviously owes a lot to the Osprey, but the nose and tail assembly look like a Predator drone. The success of this thing (if it is not going to become another notorious killer of those brave souls who buy and build their own experimental aircraft-type kits) will be how human-proof the software will be.

If a computer isn't flying this thing 75% of the time on takeoff and landing it ain't flying. The hard part of getting it certified and into the hands of the public will be the product liability issue. If it isn't insurable, at least sufficiently to protect the manufacturer, it may fly in England but not in the USA. The hard part of it for me to believe at the moment is that the cost of automated, computerized flight controls of sufficient sophistication have come down enough in cost to be affordable in this size of an aircraft. Is that day here?

And how does this undoubtedly nice piece of hardware merit the term "hybrid"?

No figures on cost, so how can I afford one? Ospreys cost megabucks.

This is another pie in the sky ideas that comes along every 10 years or so in Pop Sci and it has as much commercial chance as those flying cars we're all supposed to be driving/flying by now. Wonder why the military uses the Osprey so little? Because it's a dangerous, maintenance intensive toy that spends all it's time and energy trying to overcome the flaws in the total concept. If they could do this with non connected electric motors I suppose it could work but otherwise that second motor, as they say, is just to get you to the scene of the accident.

How much do you think this is going to cost. If there was a article with this that explained how it works. I mean alot of people died with the V-22. I belive twin rotor technology is better.

How much do you think this is going to cost. If there was a article with this that explained how it works. I mean alot of people died with the V-22. I belive twin rotor technology is better.

This is another example of PopSci's addiction to pushing ideas that will never come to fruition. Remember the flying car that was featured a few months ago? You had the privilege of paying $194,000 for a vehicle that performed like both a mediocre car and a mediocre airplane. People will just be lining up to plunk down $194,000 for this dog. The manufacturer probably has five hundred orders for it already - not!

What about the Moller Skycar? This is probably the closest thing to a production flying car,although it has faced endless delays,largely due to the need to perfect a triple or quadruple redundancy computer control system(hopefully not from Microsoft!).I've also read that flying cars like Moller is developing will require a new computerized "virtual highway in the sky" navigation system from the feds to safely manage the use of these unique vehicles.I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for all the pieces to fall into place anytime soon.

The Moller Skycar started off cool, but quickly became a scam.
After over 30 years and over $100 million the prototype could only hover about 10 to 15 feet high and the SEC slapped them with a binding injunction.

By the way, people should stop thinking that hybrid is synonymous with "energy saving," hybrid just means "combination."

Oh by the way, the Osprey is, was & will always be a killer joke. It has killed more American soldiers than the government would have you believe.

Christopher D. Burns