GoFly Competition

The competitors for the GoFly prize for a personal flying machine gather at NASA Ames Moffett Field near San Jose, California for what was supposed to be the final fly-off.

[Justwantahover]

Just a thought!
Don't have the comp on a particular date, or have it indoors. Cos there is LESS than a 50% chance of good weather on a particular date.

[ik]

It's spelled Moffett Field and was originally NAS Sunnyvale. It was named after Medal Of Honor recipient Rear Admiral William A. Moffett after his death. I grew up under the final approach course.

[pattakoncom]

At the above link you can also read some of the SAVED "Open Forum Discussions" in the GoFly / Herox Forum.

The complaints were so many (and not only for non transparency) that on August 1, 2018 all discussions / threads were deleted by GoFly / Herox (and BOEING?).

All pages of the GoFly/BOEING contest were beginning with:
“Design and build a safe, quiet, ultra-compact, near-VTOL personal flying device capable of flying 20 miles while carrying a single person.“
Yet they changed even this basic rule / demand from 20 miles to 20 minutes.
Think of the difference.


Shame on you, organizers and BOEING.


Manolis Pattakos

[acerc.e.]

I think they need much more wider airfoil fan blade chordline. Base on the latest turbofan

[DanFrederiksen]

Why the foolish rule that the props have to be below the occupant?? even ignoring that high prop is superior, why would you set out to preclude possibly great configs....
and that team tetra thing, why?

[edwardwaldrep]

I remember reading about this competition and the requirements for design a couple of years ago. The size requirements were daunting and I didn't remember about the rotors or props being on the bottom requirement. It seems overly ambitions, like they were trying to make the "flying car" or something that can just land in a small spot say between parked cars on a street right from the get-go. Trying to run a marathon before you can even waddle across the room like a toddler. There's a common phrase, "baby steps". I've never heard "baby leaps over tall buildings". Even Superman waited till he got a bit older, eh? But for a million bucks, hell, why not give it a try.

I have no real experience with quad copters so I don't know what works and what doesn't but with rotors that close together and relying on changing rpm as a means of stability and control, can the controllers react fast enough? It's not much footage to go on but I've seen enough of the multi-rotor human carrying machines in videos to see that they're more stable than that one with the fans tilted toward each other.

[lakeratatouille]

Ducted propeller under a balloon is the only way your going to get a mass market to fly. And still many will die.

[acerc.e.]

I think lot of them did'nt solve the compactness and right design for ideal small personal flying vehicle, the only close design is the pegasus vtol design of a legend fighter jet.

[rickf]

The only thing that actually flew was a giant quad piloted by a kid somewhere OTHER than the sight of the GoFly Event. Flop.

[mytubehkjt]

Batteries batteries batteries. Its all about the batteries.