Za radovedneže sem nabral nekaj malenkosti o velikem tekmovanju konstruktorjev osebnih frčal za Boeingova 2 MUSD.

Osnovne informacije:
goflyprize.com/how-it-works/

Bolj natančna časovnica, pravila in zahteve:
www.herox.com/GoFly
www.herox.com/GoFly/guidelines

Video nou-hau podpora:
www.youtube.com/play...LyI6I1_h3w

The Verge septembra 2017 ob najavi tekmovanja:

Jetpacks aren’t a completely fanciful idea, with daredevils demonstrating amazing aeronautical feats in the US and across the world. But the idea that jetpacks have commercial applications or that personal flying devices will solve our transportation and infrastructure challenges is completely ludicrous.
But don’t tell Gwen Lighter, a self-described “serial entrepreneur” who has been shopping her idea of a global competition for over two years to various stakeholders before landing Boeing as a “grand sponsor.” With the backing of the second largest aerospace manufacturer in the world, Lighter is now able to take her brainchild mainstream, officially unveiling the Go Fly Prize at the SAE 2017 AeroTech Congress and Exhibition in Fort Worth, Texas.
Lighter said that a number of innovations in the world of transportation have made the idea of a personal flying device less ridiculous than it seems. She cited autonomous vehicles, improved battery technology, 3D printing, and lightweight drones as some of the advances that could converge to make jetpacks a reality. “Now is the first moment in history where something like these personal flying devices can be built,” she said.
But when you analyze the statements of the Go Fly Prize’s sponsors and supporters, the overarching message is about inspiring the future generation of aerospace engineers, rather than strapping a miniature helicopter to grandma’s back and watching her get dizzy. Boeing’s chief technology officer Greg Hyslop said the competition “aligns with our company’s goals of inspiring people across the globe and changing the world through aerospace innovation.”
Mike Hirschberg, executive director of the American Helicopter Society and an adviser to Go Fly, told me that the goal of the contest was not to build and sell jetpacks like accessories, but rather inspire students and would-be engineers to get involved in VTOL.
www.theverge.com/201...ompetition

in junija 2018 po zaključeni 1. fazi s prvimi etapnimi zmagovalci:

Jetpacks aren’t a completely fanciful idea, and daredevils have been demonstrating amazing aeronautical feats in the US and across the world. But the idea that jetpacks have commercial applications or that personal flying devices will solve our transportation and infrastructure challenges is completely ludicrous.
Fortunately, none of these designs seem to have much in common with a jetpack. Rather, they seem to be more in line with some of the people-moving drones that are beginning to crop up in the far corners of the world of aviation hobbyists. Vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, especially ones that are powered by electric motors, are becoming increasingly popular, with major companies like Boeing, Airbus, and Uber throwing big money at building their own “flying cars.”
In that context, the GoFly Prize is intended to inspire the next generation of aerospace engineers. “The GoFly Prize is going for a seemingly impossible challenge: to have something that is small enough [for] individual flying, while having long endurance and low noise,“ Mike Hirschberg, executive director of the Vertical Flight Society, told me. “Based on conventional wisdom, any one of these would be very difficult. Together, it doesn’t seem possible. And that’s wh​y it’s so exciting.”
www.theverge.com/201...ol-jetpack