If you want to get the attention of vehicle enthusiasts of all types, you need to show them something new, doing what their current vehicles don’t do and can’t do, and the Jetson ONE from Jetson Aero just did. I’m not sure what to call it, but ARV (Aerial Recreational Vehicle) sounds about right and it just might mark the beginning of something big.
We’ve all seen the quadcopter drones flying around and it doesn’t take much to imagine someone building a bigger version, big enough to carry you into the air instead of remotely flying it with your feet on the ground. Jetson Aero has done it. The Jetson ONE carries one person. Flight time with a 187 pound pilot is 20 minutes. Top speed level flight (software limited) is 63 mph. Flight controls consist of a 3 axis control stick and throttle lever. It has hands free hover and emergency functions, it can fly with the loss of a motor and a ballistic parachute can lower the entire craft should that become necessary.
Watch the video and you can imagine an off-road motorcycle or ATV/UTV covering the same terrain, but with this, you are above it all and able to traverse areas inaccessible to a wheeled vehicle of any sort.
The price, … $92,000 and their order book is filling up rapidly.
Before you scoff at the price and range and limited carry capacity, think instead of this being the first of what will inevitably be a huge and growing vehicle segment. If one company can do it, others will follow, the performance will get better and the price will come down and I, for one, can’t wait to see that happen.
This is the electric future I want, how about you?
Source: Jetson Aero
Paul says
Great!
If you like flying for 10 minutes ..
Paul Crowe says
Please reread the last paragraph, and it’s 20 minutes, not 10.
Rotor says
I wonder what the glide ratio is on that when something fails 😳.
Paul Crowe says
It can fly with the loss of one motor, if multiple failures or complete loss of power there is a ballistic parachute, the same device now used in some experimental light aircraft.
Bob says
190 lbs!
Can’t help but wonder how much of that is the battery – and what the kWh looks like.
Also can’t help but wonder what the same battery and motor numbers would do with a light aircraft (STOL – or – air racer) – or motorcycle. I’m guessing the range and speed would be a LOT higher than 20 miles @ 60mph.
What’s interesting is that the above configuration has the potential to be a whole lot safer, more convenient, and maybe even more FUN than a conventional aircraft – or motorcycle. And also require less or even no skill at all to operate.
RicknRedmond says
Multi rotor and single rotor aircraft fly on pure horsepower at low speeds. There is no glide. This winged vehicle makes a lot of sense, but it will still take a lot of power and thus energy consumption to get it off the ground for any length of time. But, as has been said, this is a proof of concept model,and a good one. Development will no doubt go much further.
Paul Crowe says
The big attraction here is, in my eyes, the pure fun of it. Take off from your backyard and fly for 20 minutes for the sheer pleasure of doing so before landing back where you started.
“less or even no skill at all to operate” is evidently possible, there’s obviously a lot of computer control in this and I believe hands off it can emergency land itself.
My first modification might be some sort of light wing assembly for horizontal flight to reduce power consumption necessary to maintain altitude, but that adds weight so it would have to be very light. Depending on how you planned to use it, you would want different things, but this is so limited as is, the fact that it flies at all is pretty great. Now that someone has done it, better versions will come.
Bob says
Further intriguing thoughts:
How hard would it be to have a “Canned” flight path and give anybody the ultimate thrill ride – sort of a portable rail-less roller coaster?
Need to carry passenger(s) and. other stuff to where you’re going? A “Fetch” capability based on the above potential would take care of that, range permitting.
Need to take it somewhere with no visible means of support? Engine powered undercarriage/subframe/dolly with a recharging generator: World’s smallest portable airport. Speed and range problem: Solved.
Now the most important question of all: What’s the best way to race them?
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Chris B says
I think your comment about this being the start of a potential new industry is spot on. The technology for this has in fact been available for a few years now but the interest and investment is just beginning to roll. Like the utv market, the idea just has to have it’s day.
Personally, I’m most excited about the proliferation of ultralight personal aircraft that this could start. That horsepower could facilitate a super-stol winged vehicle with laudable range on one hand, or in the style of racing fpv drones, 63mph *vertical* performance! Let’s hope this takes off.
Paul Crowe says
I didn’t mention in the article that this is sold as a 50 percent kit, meaning you have to complete half of the assembly. This would enable the Jetson ONE to qualify as an “Experimental” aircraft allowing home builders to do the work instead of Jetson Aero trying to become an aircraft manufacturer, the same process followed for all Experimental aircraft. See the EAA..
If something like this doesn’t get the young away from their keyboards and into the garage, nothing will. The cost, at this point, is prohibitive for most, but the beauty is the challenge of building something similar or trying to.