Strap-On Helicopter Could Offer Solo Flying Experience

Posted on May 2, 2008 by nuke

It’s not quite the “flying car” of Jetson’s lore. In fact, it looks more like something from another Saturday morning cartoon character: Wiley E. Coyote, using yet another great invention from Acme Mfg.

Your personal “strap-on helicopter.”

Technologia Aeroespacial Mexicana (TAM), the company behind the Libelula strap-on helicopter, explains on its Web site how the device is powered by two hydrogen fuel canisters. Tiny rockets at the tips of the helicopter´s rotor blades take the place of a tail rotor, a component which couldn´t be safely attached to a human body. According to the company, the Libelula would be the lightest helicopter in the world, so light that it could be strapped to a person´s body with a carbon fiber corset.

“The best [part] of this technology is that [these] kinds of helicopters don´t need a tail rotor because they don´t have any torque, so with a simple vane they can turn - being the simplest form of an helicopter and the easiest and safer to fly,” the company says on its Web site.

Source: physorg.com

More info available at the company’s website

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4 Responses to “Strap-On Helicopter Could Offer Solo Flying Experience”

  1. Robert D, on May 2nd, 2008 at 11:54 pm Said:

    What a disappointment. It looks like a step back from the jet pack flying we were supposed to have by now. *sigh* but my flying car hasn’t been delivered yet either.

  2. swampie, on May 3rd, 2008 at 6:19 am Said:

    “Sky rage” could get really ugly with one o’ them things.

  3. no2liberals, on May 3rd, 2008 at 10:03 am Said:

    So what happens if you are flying along, and the itsty-bitsy rockets malfunction?
    No torque would become….OH SHIT!

  4. swampie, on May 3rd, 2008 at 11:14 am Said:

    “Oh, NO! Aunt Martha’s outta control. RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!”

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