Jan 20 2010Hrmmm: NASA Claims This Is A Real Aircraft
Not to be a doubting GW or anything, but if you're gonna claim something's real, how about some photos instead of renderings? Hell, even a mediocre Photoshop job would help. Also, a deep tissue massage (I'll swear anything is real if you can make the pain go away).
Is it possible for a one-person electric plane to take off vertically and fly 300 mph? NASA says yes, and shows us how it's done with Puffin, a single-passenger aircraft that's 10 times quieter than the most hushed helicopters.
Using today's technology, Puffin can cruise for 50 miles, but aerospace engineers at NASA say that range could triple by 2017.
You know what else is gonna be tripled by 2017? The national deficit after trying to send missile man here an extra 100 miles. HA -- actually funding NASA! ROFL. Good one, GW.
Video rendering of the thing in action after the jump.
NASA claims its quiet one-person electric aircraft is real [dvice]
Thanks to InfinityChic and Melissa, who will stick to riding unicorns. Take me to 7-11 to pick up some beer?
Reader Comments
1. NUMBA WON - January 20, 2010 4:40 PM
HELL YEA, IM NUMA 1, UP URS 2-20! FURSTTTS
2. Carlos Spicy Weiner - January 20, 2010 4:44 PM
That seems about as safe as Flip Wilson attending a KKK meeting..... just sayin
3. Skeletor - January 20, 2010 4:55 PM
it need some pew-pews!
4. blueZorro - January 20, 2010 5:04 PM
Still not cool as a jet pack.
5. naas - January 20, 2010 5:16 PM
@1 you're trying to make geekologie suck but it's just not working. Please stop shitting on the boards when you have a chance to comment next to a (0) - nobody likes the mess or the smell
6. KBOTZ - January 20, 2010 5:18 PM
if i was a mexican drug cartel, i'd be all over this.....just sayin
7. Kokopure - January 20, 2010 5:44 PM
How much did FedEx pay for that ad spot, do you think?
8. ContaiN - January 20, 2010 6:01 PM
Given it has a vertical landing and takeoff with supported struts..... why does it need the 2 wheels at the base??
9. cabbo - January 20, 2010 6:07 PM
Want one. It'd make getting to places slightly less awkward. And even if it doesn't, you'll get there faster. Why?
Because it's NASA baby, yeah!
@1 you suck. Just sayin', with complete intent to make you feel horrible, because you are a worm. Wiggle off and say 'hi' to your mummy for me. Please, apologise for my lack of punctuality last saturday, I got caught up in a game of poker with your aunt, who is a very tender lover.
10. cabbo - January 20, 2010 6:08 PM
Umm, why the Fed-Ex add on the top of the building at the start?
11. jens - January 20, 2010 6:31 PM
I do not believe that,,, what plane/space ship with 1 passenger or just a pilot ??
by the way,, the concept design very very popular to cartoons movie
12. Neil - January 20, 2010 7:40 PM
So, how does the pilot see to land exactly?
13. A Sophisticated Dino - January 20, 2010 7:43 PM
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14. carlos - January 20, 2010 8:11 PM
It seems like a very possible design... I mean, the Bell Boeing uses the exact same concept, this is just in a smaller package.
15. Transformer! MORE than meets the EYE! - January 20, 2010 9:14 PM
It should make the Transforming noise at the beginning and end... Really, its just an oversized copter pack with the false security of a pilot pod that will not save you from choppy chop death or crashy crash death either! People think of motorcycles as suicide machines, ahhh. Check out this potential hazard from the sky! Also, props to Hasbro for forseeing the Cruisemissle Trooper.
16. The Venture Bros. Compound? - January 20, 2010 9:16 PM
Where's Dean? Hank? Rusty? Btw, if it was the old days, you'd be seeing this turkey in the next BOND movie for no apparent reason other than coolness.
17. suomynonA - January 20, 2010 10:36 PM
Would look better with a jet-black color, obviously, instead of a lightning-bolt.
18. livingjetlag - January 20, 2010 10:58 PM
They named it the Puffin. Named it after a bird that can't fly. And someone is going to plunk down astronomical amounts of money on it. Is it me, or is the Large Hadron Collider going back in time to make up crazy $%^& just to R%^& with us?
19. Jaded Icon - January 21, 2010 7:53 AM
I have a design for a plane too, I call it the "Dodo".....basically it's a nuke with wings....
20. Danundertheice - January 21, 2010 8:04 AM
I see that man in the 'cockpit' (hehe I said cock) and all I think is 'Geez how stiff is his neck going to be after flying in that'. No litterilly, that's all i'm thinking..
21. Beef - January 21, 2010 10:42 AM
How many crashes have their been with the Harrier and the Osprey? But sure, make this and let Joe "Shitty" Driver pilot it all around and land the thing.
22. Grafik - January 21, 2010 12:14 PM
There will NEVER be anything further than prototypes for personal single person aircraft. You know why? Because it would be an untenable nightmare for air traffic controllers. Imagine trying to keep track of the current existing air traffic all over North America, plus tens of thousands (assuming they actually marketed the thing) of personal aircraft whizzing between smaller cities and urban areas. Plus if there's a crash it's not just a fenderbender but a hazard for up to thousands of people on the surface depending on population and trajectory of the falling wreckage.
Personal aircraft have been promised for decades and viable craft have already been built for decades. But it will just never happen.
23. Ken Goldstein Esq. - January 21, 2010 2:02 PM
Contact my office immediately. You have cases pending against you. Ignoring this matter will further damage your situation.
24. hellbringer - January 21, 2010 3:42 PM
If I had a fake mini-plane I would name it after a flightless bird as well.
Also, it's George Bush's fault.
25. paul - January 21, 2010 4:05 PM
@19 you fail at birds.
26. paul - January 21, 2010 4:06 PM
@26 you also.
27. wut - January 21, 2010 9:53 PM
So... It flies for 10 minutes at a time then.
Wow, that's efficient.
Let's put people in darts and fire them.
Actually, that sounds awesome. Even more so when we see what a collision looks like.
28. MrAv8er - January 22, 2010 6:22 PM
Cool, I'd buy one! @23, never say never. Suddenly having 50,000 of these flying around would cause an air traffic nightmare. But it doesn't happen that way. They will trickle into existence and the world will evolve. Personally, I think that pilots (me included) as a whole will become extinct in the not too distant future. Automation is going to take over. As much as I don't like it, i'm convinced that 40 years from now there will be a number of pilotless airliner type aircraft in service, possibly sooner.