Important Innovations

The Pegasus 1 - Winning Personal Flying Machine It's a Y6 tilt rotor with wing, hybrid powertrain and a cruising speed of 70 knots.  The Pegasus 1 is a top 10 winner in Boeing's GoFly International.  It's the creation of USA Team Scoop and captain Alex Smolen, who is a self-taught programmer with experience flying and building multicopters. Personal Flight Smolen sees the Pegasus as the first step toward fun and simple personal flight.  He thinks anyone can fly the vehicle for 30 minutes and will find it a wonder to fly. Tech Specs The vehicle has 6 propellers.  When it hovers, they lift Pegasus off the ground, slowly and in any direction like a drone.  To cruise, the propellers tilt giving it lift and thrust.  As it accelerates, the wings give additional lift making it fly like a plane. Pegasus 1 Promise Team Scoop and Alex Smolen are now building their concept into a flyable prototype to compete against 10 other teams in the GoFly competition...

The Vantage - Personal Flying Machine With British Accent The captain of the British team Leap defines their personal flying machine The Vantage as a 5-rotor air bike.  It's also a top ten contender in Boeing's GoFly International Competition of personal flying machine prototypes. Loaded with Engineering This concept's design and technical specifications are stunning.  It has an internal combustion engine that produces electric power from a generator.  5 electric motors drive a rotor that keeps Vantage airborne.  2 more rotor-motor combos give it forward thrust.  And each rotor can be controlled independently. Real Deal - No Fairy Dust Captain Bruno Howard says "no need for fairy dust".  It's made of real components you can buy today.  He adds the principles of safety, controllability and redundancy are built into its design.  Team Leap is now building a working prototype with vertical takeoff and landing, low noise, able to fly non-s...

The Harmony - Not Your Average Flying Machine Forget the jetpack.  The future of personal flying machines looks quite different, as in Texas A&M's The Harmony pictured above.  This flying machine is one of ten winners in Boeing's GoFly international competition.  It's cleared for take-off in Phase 2 of the competition. The Texans will be turning the concept into a working prototype. The Harmony's Winning Music The all-electric vehicle was created by Texas A&M engineers.  It's distinctive to say the least.  It's egg-shaped and looks a bit like a lectern. The engineers call it a personal rotorcraft.  The pilot sits above the open coaxial rotors.  The creators say the configuration maximizes hover and forward flight flexibility, pilot safety and reliability.  The Texans says it's practical, safe, green and efficient.  The next step is to take their winning technical specifications and design and build a prototype to fly. Boeing'...