Strap-On Helicopter Could Offer Solo Flying Experience

May 2nd, 2008 in Technology / Engineering
Strap-on helicopter


Technologia Aeroespacial Mexicana (TAM) has designed a strap-on helicopter. Tiny rockets on the tips of the propellers eliminate the need for a tail rotor, making it possible for the device to be worn on a human body. Credit: TAM.

Ever since the first human saw a bird soaring through the clouds, our species has harbored a great envy for the freedom that flying gives.

Now a company from Mexico is trying to capitalize on this desire with their design for a strap-on helicopter, which is intended to be worn on the back of an individual and lift them into the air. The idea is not new, but the technology may have some novelty, although details are sparse.

Technologia Aeroespacial Mexicana (TAM), the company behind the Libelula strap-on helicopter, explains on its Web site how the device is powered by two hydrogen fuel canisters. Tiny rockets at the tips of the helicopterīs rotor blades take the place of a tail rotor, a component which couldnīt be safely attached to a human body. According to the company, the Libelula would be the lightest helicopter in the world, so light that it could be strapped to a personīs body with a carbon fiber corset.

"The best [part] of this technology is that [these] kinds of helicopters donīt need a tail rotor because they donīt have any torque, so with a simple vane they can turn - being the simplest form of an helicopter and the easiest and safer to fly," the company says on its Web site.

At the moment, the idea is just an idea. However, the company has a successful history of developing and fabricating a variety of hydrogen peroxide rockets, jet packs, a flying rocket belt, rocket bicycles, and other similar machines. And on its Web site, the company claims to have most of the components for the Libelula helicopter - many of which are the same as those on the rocket belt - and suggests that it is only a matter of time before embarking on a test flight.

More information: Technologia Aeroespacial Mexicana

via: DVICE