Able to vertically take off, 'X-Hawk' could fly up to 155 miles an hour
A worker is seen behind a model of the X-Hawk flying vehicle at the Urban
Aeronautics' headquarters in the central Israeli town of Yavne. Rafi Yoeli has
an unconventional solution to saving people from burning high-rises or rescuing
soldiers trapped behind enemy lines: a flying car. He already has gotten a
rudimentary vehicle off the ground — about three feet — and hopes to see a
marketable version of his X-Hawk flying car by 2010.
Updated: 1:23 p.m. ET Jan. 31, 2007
YAVNE, Israel - Rafi Yoeli has an
unconventional solution to saving people from burning high-rises or rescuing
soldiers trapped behind enemy lines: a flying car.
Yoeli already has gotten a
rudimentary vehicle off the ground — about three feet — and hopes to see a
marketable version of his X-Hawk flying car by 2010.
Although his dream might seem
far-fetched, Textron Inc.’s Bell Helicopters is taking a serious look, teaming
with Yoeli’s privately held Urban Aeronautics to explore X-Hawk’s potential.
Think of the people trapped in the
World Trade Center. Think of ground patrols in Iraq blown up by roadside bombs.
Think of New Orleans residents stranded on rooftops after Hurricane Katrina.
X-Hawk and its smaller version,
Mule, might one day offer the same capabilities as helicopters, but without the
serious operating limitations — like exposed rotors — that helicopters face in
urban terrain.
“The reality is that we have not
been designing helicopters to operate in urban environments,” said M.E. Rhett
Flater, executive director of the American Helicopter Society, a professional
group. “What Rafi is doing is addressing that need to design some kind of
vehicle that can operate in an urban environment, that can get close to
buildings and skyscrapers, and provide some type of relief for people stranded
in buildings.”
The concept of a flying utility
vehicle dates back 50 years. Other design houses currently working on vertical
lift concepts with enclosed rotors include U.S.-based Trek Aerospace Inc. and
Moller International Inc., both of which focus on a different niche, personal
use vehicles.
X-Hawk — for now just a full-size
mold in Urban Aeronautics’ headquarters in the central Israeli town of Yavne —
looks like a futuristic space car, with its streamlined design, two fans rising
from the rear and cockpit-style driver’s seat.
But Yoeli envisions X-Hawk and
Mule as more of a truck, pulling up to dangerous combat or terror arenas to
ferry in personnel and supplies and ferry out people at risk.
Like a similarly sized helicopter,
X-Hawk will be able to take off vertically, fly up to 155 miles an hour and as
high as 12,000 feet and remain aloft about two hours, Urban Aeronautics
says.
But encased fans will replace the
exposed rotors that keep helicopters from maneuvering effectively in urban areas
or dense natural terrain because they have to stay clear of walls, power lines
and mountain ridges. And a patented system of vanes is designed to afford the
vehicle greater stability. Urban Aeronautics says vehicles will be able to sidle
right up to a building.
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The X-Hawk also will be quieter,
offering a stealth advantage over helicopters, said Janina Frankel-Yoeli, the
company’s vice president for marketing.
But because the rotor diameter is
smaller, the new vehicle will use about 50 percent more fuel.
Yoeli started working on the
precursor to X-Hawk and Mule in 2000, but Flater said the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks have “given vertical takeoff and landing vehicles a new priority.”
“The military is learning that
they have to fight wars in cities again,” he said. “So we’re looking at unmanned
aerial vehicles that can provide reconnaissance. Obviously the next step would
be to look for vehicles ... that can provide actual relief in urban areas.”
Bell, which exhibited a full-scale
mock-up of X-Hawk at the 2006 Farnborough air show, sees huge market potential
for an aircraft that could operate in confined areas and evacuate wounded
soldiers, but hasn’t fully committed to the project.
Costs are still uncertain, and
it’s still unclear whether the X-Hawk can be designed to carry a “useful load —
fuel, folks and equipment,” said Jon Tatro, Bell’s director of advanced concept
development.
Mule, configured to carry two
wounded people, will carry an estimated $1.5 million price tag. A civilian,
10-passenger version of X-Hawk, for use in rescue missions, utility work or
executive transport, is projected at $3.5 million, while a military model
carrying a dozen people and more sophisticated equipment would cost $6
million.
Tatro and Flater say the estimates
for the military model might be low.
Yoeli expects an unmanned Mule
prototype to be flying in two or three years and in production within five. He
projects a manned X-Hawk will first hover in 2009 and hit the market within
eight years. He hopes ultimately to sell 250 to 300 machines annually, out of up
to 2,000 helicopters sold worldwide.
The 55-year-old Yoeli says he’s
been fascinated by flight since childhood and got into the flying car business
after two years at Boeing Co., five at Israel Aircraft Industries Ltd. and 14 at
a company he co-founded to develop unmanned airborne vehicles and helicopter
applications.
His initial fantasy was a flying
sports car. But because of all the regulatory issues that would have to be
resolved before masses of commuters could start whooshing through the sky, he
tucked that dream aside to develop something that could hit the market
earlier.
Company headquarters are dominated
by a large, white-domed flight simulator and the proof-of-concept vehicle that
Yoeli says he built in his second-floor living room so he could spend more time
with his family.
What’s compelled Yoeli on this
project is the urge “to get up vertically,” without needing a runway or a
rotating mechanism overhead.
“You sit in a traffic jam, and
everyone gets this urge: I want to get up now, and over this,” he said. “You
need a certain kind of machine. I think X-Hawk can do it.”
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16904339/
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