Helicopters

Human-powered helicopter gets off the ground

The history of flight is notoriously fickle. Orville Wright managed to stay aloft for just 12 seconds in his plane in 1903. Last week, Judy Wexler hovered a few inches above the ground for about 4 seconds in a human-powered helicopter, but it was enough to put a mark in the history books.

The University of Maryland has played host to the creation of the Gamera helicopter, named for a giant flying turtle superhero that can give Godzilla a run for his money.

Gamera is usually seen flying by spinning around rapidly like a big, scaly Frisbee. The helicopter version features four 42-foot-long rotors in an X pattern with the pilot at the center. Counting the 110-pound Wexler, a University of Maryland biology student, the whole contraption weighs in at a slim 210 pounds worth of balsa, mylar, carbon fiber, and foam. Hand and foot pedals provide the power.

Gamera is chasing a lofty goal. The American Helicopter Society's Sikorsky Prize offers $250,000 for a human-powered helicopter that hovers for 60 seconds, stays within a 10-meter square space, and reaches a 3-meter altitude. That's a tall order. … Read more

Crave giveaway: Swann RC helicopter

While Swann is known for its security cameras, the company recently entered the RC helicopter arena, and to kick off the launch of its new line, it's offering up this Emergency Strike model to one lucky winner here on Crave.

Here's what Swann has to say about the Emergency Strike:

This Swann Emergency Strike remote-controlled helicopter is a miniature version of the choppers you see at search and rescue operations around the world. Put yourself in the picture and save the day with this mini, fully functional version of the real thing. Equipped with the latest Gyroscope technology … Read more

Swann RC helicopters get good gyrations

Once upon a time, manufacturers of disposable razors engaged in an arms race to see who could fit the most blades onto a Bic. A similar battle is now being played out in the world of radio-controlled indoor helicopters.

It's going to be tough to top Swann's Military Thunder, a Chinook-style, double-rotor machine with a total of four chopper blades and two stability arms.

The Military Thunder is part of a new line of RC helicopters from a company that's better known for making surveillance equipment like security cameras. Why not combine the two? RC copters with video surveillance would be a lot more fun than a regular baby monitor.

RC indoor helicopters have been annoying cats and crashing into expensive home electronics for years, but there's always been room for improvement. Swann's contribution to the genre is its take on a coaxial gyro technology that increases the stability of the toys. That explains the stack-o-rotors design.

You don't have to go the military route, however. The Micro Lightning chopper would feel at home on the set of "Magnum P.I." The Emergency Strike model is all decked out in EMS garb. It's big enough to rescue large insects or very small mice, provided you can find EMTs microscopic enough to fit inside.

Swann says the Micro Hornet model is the smallest and lightest fully controllable mini-helicopter on the market. At 5.5 inches long, it's certainly a tiny little thing. Charging it for 20 to 30 minutes will get you five minutes of flying time. That's just long enough to buzz your significant other awake from a nap.

Each copter runs $70 and comes with an extra set of rotors. You're going to need those after you crash your RC chopper into your flat-screen TV.

Check out the promo video below. It makes it look like helicopters have finally arrived in the Land of the Lost.… Read more

CES: AR.Drone lesson: Don't dogfight in a Wi-Fi war zone

The AR.Drone helicopter demo was going really well, until the 'copter, under the expert pilotage of a company employee, veered out of control from its demo arena and smacked into a CES attendee's head. Fortunately, the foam bumper on the drone was installed, otherwise the guy might not have laughed off the collision.

Shortly thereafter, in a demo set up for me of the new AR.Drone dogfighting game, Flying Ace, one demonstrator mercilessly (virtually) pounded another pilot's copter, which hovered motionless, locked in place by the Wi-Fi interference that plagues this conference every year (check out … Read more

Helicopter helps nab suspected iPhone thief

If you happen to have your precious iPhone stolen from you in the broadness of daylight, you might wish that you might be helped in your quest for justice by something fast and airborne.

One distressed iPhone owner in a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, enjoyed just such fortune after her iPhone was stolen in a hospital.

According to the Age, the alleged perpetrator, a 16-year-old, sped away with the iPhone on a bike. Which was, coincidentally, also allegedly purloined illegally from its owner.

It just so happened that the police had a helicopter flying around in the vicinity.

The Age … Read more

CNET to the Rescue: Four girls walk into a hot spot...

This week we tackle a worried father's conundrum: His daughter is at college borrowing a Wi-Fi signal from the boys downstairs. What could go wrong? We explain, and solve. Also: how to replace the expiring XMarks; yet more questions about what to do with old iPhones; Josh road-tests and iPad case with a built-in keyboard; and we watch a Parrot AR.Drone fall from the sky.

Got a tech question? E-mail rescue@cnet.com or leave it at our new toll-free number: 877-438-6688

Episode 19: Your questions answered

Eurocopter concept puts new spin on autogyro

The Eurocopter Group is working on a concept aircraft that's a hybrid of a helicopter and a fixed-wing plane, the company announced today.

Dubbed the X3, the concept--which looks mostly like a helicopter, but with airplane propellers at either side--is designed to offer "the speed of a turboprop-powered aircraft" while boasting the hovering and vertical take-off and landing capabilities of a helicopter.

Ultimately, Eurocopter hopes to sell its concept to organizations that require "maximum cruising speed." It said that the hybrid rotorcraft could come in especially handy on search-and-rescue missions and other highly time-sensitive operations … Read more

A tank combat classic is now on the iPhone

Vector Tanks Extreme is a tank combat game that is obviously inspired by the classic stand-up arcade game Battlezone. In the original you used two joysticks to move your tank, with one controlling the left track and the other controlling the right. In Vector Tanks Extreme you use up and down motions on either side of the screen to simulate the two-joystick control method, and touch the middle of the screen to fire your weapons. As you blow away tanks, you'll find powerups that give you new weapons, add to your shield supply, and give you rapid-fire guns for … Read more

AR.Drone helicopter controllable by iPhone

LAS VEGAS--This is the coolest toy I've ever seen: the Parrot AR.Drone, a remote-controlled helicopter with a twist. It's controlled over Wi-Fi from an iPhone or iPod Touch, and it's got a camera in its snout that streams to your iPhone's screen.

The copter itself is computer-stabilized, so controlling it is much easier than the standard $40 toy RC helicopter you may be familiar with. But it should be: it'll cost in the neighborhood of $500, when it ships this year. You'll get about 15 minutes of battery-powered fun on a 1-hour charge. … Read more

NASA drops a chopper from the sky

A certain American Airlines 757 pilot gave me and a couple of hundred others a very hard landing this week.

So my jaw finally began to cease chattering when I discovered NASA is beginning to work on dropping flying things from the sky to see if perhaps the impact can be absorbed.

NASA's Web site told me that it dropped a helicopter from 35 feet in order to see whether an expandable honeycomb cushion that NASA calls a "deployable energy absorber" could minimize damage to life, limb, and even nervous systems.

The MD-500's landing gear did … Read more