For 50 years, science fiction has been tantalizing us with visions of
airborne roadways and quickly maneuvering, sports-car-like
flying cars.
And for 50 years, companies have been chasing the dream, releasing the
occasional prototype to keep their investors investing. But in February
2007, an Israeli company named Urban Aeronautics made a bold
projection: A flying car on the market by 2012.
The Urban Aeronautics X-Hawk and its smaller cousin, Mule, have a very specific, guiding application: urban rescue. By all accounts, the concept is right-on. Where helicopters
fail, X-Hawk plans to succeed. Its designers claim it can press right
up against a building to rescue people stranded on top floors and hover
there, in contact with the structure, maintaining stability. Its
technology, while patented, is similar to the innovations employed in
vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) craft marketed as "personal air
vehicles" -- i.e. flying cars -- like Trek Aerospace's Dragonfly and
Moller International's Skycar.
In essence, the X-Hawk is a helicopter without the massive,
exposed rotor and without the need to roll in order to move left and
right. These two advances alone make it an ideal urban rescue vehicle,
able to maneuver in tight spaces that would prevent useful helicopter
access. Helicopters have a hard time getting close to enough to
buildings and mountains to be of much use when it comes to snagging
people from high places. The technology behind X-Hawk's advances in
maneuverability include several major upgrades over previous flying-car
attempts:
- Contained rotors that provide the vertical lift without the exposed
blades that make getting into tight spaces dangerous or impossible
- New, lighter composite materials that increase the craft's power-to-weight ratio
- A vane-control system that directs airflow at the inlet and
outlet of each rotor duct to allow for roll-less side-to-side movement
- Updated turbine engines that weigh less while producing more thrust
X-Hawk's pilot sits in a fighter-jet-style cockpit with a
transparent casing for visibility. The craft is designed to fly for up
to two hours on one tank of gas, at up to 155 miles per hour (250 kph)
and 12,000 feet (3,700 meters).
However, as of February 2007, X-Hawk has hovered just 3 feet (1
meter) above the ground. Urban Aeronautics expects it to reach full
operability by 2009. X-Hawk's smaller version, Mule, is predicted to
hit the skies commercially in just five years (the full-size X-Hawk's
projected market date is later, around 2015). If Mule is indeed making
rescues as early as 2012, it could be the proof-of-concept that opens
the doors to other VTOLs still in the development stage but this close
to marketability. And we've heard this all before; but this time, a
major aircraft producer is interested. While still contemplating a real
commitment to the project, Bell Helicopters is in talks with Urban
Aeronautics and displayed the X-Hawk prototype at the 2006 Farnborough
air show. Price will, of course, be an obstacle to mass consumption.
Urban Aeronautics estimates that the small version of the X-Hawk, with
a three-person capacity, will run approximately $1.5 million. But for
an urban rescue vehicle marketed to the military and police forces,
that's really not half bad.
More more information on flying cars and related topics, check out the following links:
Sources
- "Future rescue vehicle -- the flying car." CNN.com. Jan. 31, 2007.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/01/31/israel.flying.car.ap/index.html
- Trek Aerospace
http://www.trekaero.com/
- Moller International Skycar
http://www.moller.com/skyc.htm
- Urban Aerodynamics
http://www.urbanaero.com/Urban_Main.htm
