FBI: LAX jetpack likely a balloon or drone
03-22-2021, 05:22 AM
#51
Banned
Okay, let's look at this a little bit differently. Franklin stated an R/C six turbine bank with 473 pounds of thrust can run up to 8 minutes with 70 lbs of fuel carrying an operator that weighs 300lbs. What if the operator was wearing a "wing suit"? That operator would almost have to be in good physical condition to be able to use the suit so that could bring the weight down and could take the bank down to five turbines with the correspondingly less fuel. Now, let's play the scenario:
Operator lifts off at full throttle and goes straight up for around three minutes. As we all know, a 1:1 power/weight ratio should allow for a climb of greater than 1000 feet/minute so it is possible that after three minutes, the operator could be between 4000 and 5000 feet up. Now, cut the throttle to idle and use the wing suit to fly around for a bit. For landing, throttle back up and use the remaining fuel to land. Sounds doable to me, what do you all think?
Operator lifts off at full throttle and goes straight up for around three minutes. As we all know, a 1:1 power/weight ratio should allow for a climb of greater than 1000 feet/minute so it is possible that after three minutes, the operator could be between 4000 and 5000 feet up. Now, cut the throttle to idle and use the wing suit to fly around for a bit. For landing, throttle back up and use the remaining fuel to land. Sounds doable to me, what do you all think?
And with a winged suit nothing says it has to stay vertical all the way up. Go vertical to get off the ground but a transition to forward flight as soon as possible will reduce the load on the engine and allow for even more flight time.
Last edited by Retiredat38; 03-22-2021 at 05:24 AM.
03-22-2021, 11:44 AM
#52
Sounds like it has possibilities. I assume by 300 pounds weight you mean gross weight of the entire package and not just the pilot. And since I found the current max sustained thrust is 430 pounds, we have even more leeway.
And with a winged suit nothing says it has to stay vertical all the way up. Go vertical to get off the ground but a transition to forward flight as soon as possible will reduce the load on the engine and allow for even more flight time.
And with a winged suit nothing says it has to stay vertical all the way up. Go vertical to get off the ground but a transition to forward flight as soon as possible will reduce the load on the engine and allow for even more flight time.
03-23-2021, 02:50 AM
#53
Banned
Actually, it was Franklin that came up with the 300 lb person and an AUW of 430 lbs. My contention was that, if a wing suit was used, the operator would need to be in good shape and not nearly as heavy as an NFL lineman to make it work since a wing suit is just fabric. Just went back and re-read his post and he was looking at a 200lb person, 33 lbs of turbines and 70 lbs of fuel for 300 total pounds. With that said, running the engines for 4 minutes would take you down to 265 lbs which should make a wing suit feasible. Guess that's what happens when I try to post something on no sleep
