Maker

www.makezine.com/05/interview

frequency would shift, and that shift would trig- Rumor has it that you are working on some
ger an alarm. Sure enough, it worked. inventions that involve gravity. Anything you can
share?

The AirScooter is a bit of a departure from your other inventions. What is the story behind it?

I am fortunate that I am now in a financial posi-
tion that allows me to pursue big problems. So
My business partner and I began discussing for the last several years, I have tried to deliber-
how people love to fly. So we decided to invent a ately invent over my head. When I can’t get the
flying machine. I then made a list of all the things answers I need for problems I’m working on, I
I didn’t like about airplanes: I don’t like to have find professors who specialize in the areas that
to be going 100 mph to stay in the air, I don’t like I am working on and then pay them to conduct
having to drive to the airport, etc. I then made a the research or write me papers. This allows
list of all the things I didn’t like about helicopters: me to get experts in niche areas to evaluate my
I don’t like how hard they are to fly, I don’t like the ideas and tell me if they are smart or stupid.
cost to get licensed, etc. Then we simply went So with that context, let me say that nobody
about coming up with a product that met all of really understands gravity. What we do know is
these criteria. that it has something to do with mass, and it is the

We knew people needed to be able to take off result of something going on in the nucleus of the and land anywhere, so we went with a rotor-based atom. I think I know what that “something” is. I craft. The tail rotor on helicopters drains about might be the only person in the world who knows 20% of the power without adding lift, so we what that “something” is. I know that sounds replaced it with a second rotor that counter- brazen, but I believe it’s true. I have been working rotates. This eliminated the wasted power and the on a variety of experiments, over the course of gyroscopic effects. We knew the controls had to years, to test my theory in a way that yields clear, be easy to use, so we eliminated the foot pedals unambiguous results so that it can be indepen-and yoke and went with a handlebar. Push, pull, dently reproduced — I don’t want a Pons and or turn it the direction you want to go and you Fleischmann situation (see MAKE, Volume 03, “A go there. Fusion Reactor for the Rest of Us,” page 25).

We knew it had to be low-maintenance. The Based on the current rate of progress, I am ratio of fly time to maintenance for a helicopter confident that within ten years we will under-is about 1: 1, which is not acceptable to most stand the mechanism of gravity and be able to people. If we could make it light enough, we influence it in specific ways. I realize that most could eliminate a lot of the rotor complexity (and scientists reading this will think I am nuts, but I corresponding maintenance) and control lift am not risking anybody’s money or reputation but through rotor speed. Additionally, if we could get my own. So if I am wrong, no big deal. If I am the craft under 254 pounds, it would qualify right, the rewards for everyone will be terrific. as an ultralight and be exempt from licensing requirements. So we reduced the weight, primar- Read more of William Lidwell’s interview with ily by inventing a new high-power, lightweight, Woody Norris at makezine.com/05/interview. four-stroke engine. This allowed us to get the weight down and reduce the rotor complexity.

Now a pilot can use a simple handlebar throttle to go up and down. It has taken us several years to Racks of HyperSonic Sound speakers ready work out all of the kinks, but for the price of an to ship. Customers include Disney World expensive car ($47,000), anyone can now buy and supermarkets, who use them as “audio and safely fly their own AirScooter out of their spotlights.” _{backyards. Pretty cool!} X