When it comes to hoverbikes, there is plenty of interest among the masses, but due to the lack of any substantial progress, not much interest has been seen in such vehicles. This perception has been challenged with the first manned flight of a hovering tricopter that was undertaken by a Hungarian design team, Bay Zolan. Although the flight just lasted a few seconds, the whole project was materialized in one year from the drawing board. So, we can expect better performances shortly.
In the manned flight, the take-off weight of the craft was 210 Kg including the pilot and was just a demonstration of the take-off and landing capacity. Carrying on, the next flight of the Flike lasted one and a half minutes and the copter was able to perform several basic testing maneuvers and other aerodynamic obligations necessary for it to become a success. The Flike has a y6 modeled six rotors coaxial arrangement. Each of the six props is individually driven by electric disk motors powered by Lithium batteries. The battery storage will be enough to guarantee a 30-40 minutes flight in no time, according to the developers.
The flight control is provided with the help of rotors that makes it appear like an ordinary quadcopter. All the basic flight patterns are just like quadcopters too. Also to that, the hovering bike is also capable of undertaking some special maneuvers that are yet to be named. The onboard flight computer is one of the most advanced ever built and it and takes care of the craft’s stability, general motion and altitude too. The danger of failed propellers can never be understated, but the Flike is capable of providing emergency thrust in case of a rotor failure that will make it very easy to operate.
After the successful evaluation of the first prototype, the team now intends to build a second one that can eventually be commercialized. Going commercial will be quite a challenge for the fledgling company as there are number of serious obstacles standing in their way. Let us hope that they can address them one at a time.