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The Hexa manned multirotor: It’s real, and you can fly it

Loz Blain December 11, 2018

Flying taxi services may take some time to arrive, but if you want to be among the first to pilot a manned multicopter, you'll have the chance in 2019. Lift Aircraft is preparing to debut a personal flight experience in an 18-prop electric VTOL aircraft for about the price of a skydive.

The Hexa will land on four large floats, suitable for ground or water landings

Aircraft

The head-first VTOL personal aircraft concept not for the faint of heart

Loz Blain June 7, 2018

Yes, that's a head poking out the end of this terrifying personal flight concept. Called the Dart Flyer, it's essentially a quadcopter with a winged pilot cocoon on top of it. Definitely not one for nervous flyers, it's been submitted as a contender in the GoFly challenge, sponsored by Boeing.

Head-first into infinity and beyond ... that's the Dart Flyer promise

Aircraft

Real-life Iron Man Richard Browning flies his Gravity jet suit up Europe's longest zip line

Loz Blain March 21, 2018

Personal Flight pioneer and real-life Iron Man Richard Browning has found an innovative way to speed-test the aerodynamics of his Gravity jet suit. He's been flying up and down Europe's longest and fastest zip line in Wales. Check out the video!

Richard Browning prepares to fly up the longest zip line in Europe

Aircraft

Zapata Ezfly: The jet-powered aerial Segway anyone can fly

Loz Blain January 18, 2018

The Zapata Ezfly looks for all intents and purposes like a Segway of the sky. You stand on a small platform equipped with a series of jet thrusters, holding two handgrips that come up from the base, then rise up into the air and zoom around, steering with your bodyweight.

The Zapata Ezfly is a jet-powered flying Segway that it seems almost anyone can fly

Aircraft

Video: Richard Browning sets new speed record in Iron Man-style jet suit

Loz Blain November 9, 2017

Real life Iron Man Richard Browning has put his jet-powered flight suit to the test, setting a new Guinness world speed record. Watch him skim the surface of a lake at top speed before tumbling into the water.

Gravity founder Richard Browning has just set the Guinness World Record for "fastest speed in a ...

Aircraft

Autonomous Passenger Drone swoops onto the flying taxi scene

Nick Lavars September 27, 2017

The field of flying taxis is one that is starting to fill up. Joining the likes of the Ehang 184 and Volocopter is the newly announced Passenger Drone, which is built to help usher in an era of personal aerial transportation by autonomously carrying people from point A to point B.

The range of the autonomous Passenger Drone is claimed to be around 20 miles (32 km/h)

Aircraft

Boeing throws US$2 million behind contest to build personal flying machine

Nick Lavars September 26, 2017

While a number of inventors have brought the idea of a jetpack closer to reality, personal flight remains a dream for most of us. Boeing has had enough of the dreaming, and is putting up US$2 million in prize money to encourage bright ideas around building an easy-to-use personal flying device.

The design of the personal flying vehicle for Boeing's GoFly contest is entirely open to interpretation

Aircraft

Swedish flying carpet goes electric

Paul Ridden July 3, 2017

Around this time last year, we featured a crazy Swedish multirotor flying machine invented and flown by engineer Alex Borg. At that time, it featured eight petrol-powered rotors, but earlier this year he opted for lots of electric motors. And now the chAIR manned VTOL has taken off.

Alex Borg of AmazingDIYProjects in his home-built multirotor chAIR

Aircraft

Real-life Iron Man jet suit requires superhuman strength

Loz Blain April 3, 2017

British inventor Richard Browning has demonstrated a new personal jetpack-style flight suit with jet turbines on the lower back and arms. The Daedalus suit screams Iron Man to anyone who's watched the movies, but this thing looks brutally difficult to fly.

Gravity founder Richard Browning lifts off in the Daedalus flight suit

Aircraft

Sky-Hopper: Another manned multirotor project to watch

Loz Blain February 16, 2017

Only a handful of teams around the globe have safely demonstrated a manned, electric multirotor aircraft, but there's every indication these VTOL Jetsons-mobiles will play a major role in the future transport mix. Here's another example out of the Netherlands - the Sky-Hopper.

Sky-Hopper's manned multicopter prototype in untethered test flight, with founder Peter Dobber at the controls.