One hundred and ten years to the day since Louis Bleriot flew the English Channel, the remarkable Frank Zapata tries on his jet-powered 'flyboard' but sadly ditches during a refuelling event.
It's only good news however because (a) it IS going to happen and (b) he has a military contract already.
Thus inspired I re-examine the prospects for using what we have in hand to test-fly a foot-mounted drone, seeing as they're all the rage.
Actually a mock-up in the lounge here suggests the prospects are pretty good. It'd be a whole lot easier to build as a simple quad, but lacking redundancy would suit it only to ground-effect operations (for which I've always been convinced there's a market).
The upper-deck is hollowed out ~ because I can ~ and the pair of decks will be separated by tie-rods again just sufficient to provide clearance to the lower set of propellers.
Ideally the upper set of propellers are better under-slung for reasons of safety, but for the test-flights at least we might as well run with the simplest configuration and mount on top.
First time as well that the motor's been anywhere near the frame, and there's nothing like arranging parts in this way to accelerate progress... and this is beginning to look like a flyer.
And although modelled here with the half-scale mannekin, this same airframe fits me too.
