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World's Smallest Helicopter Ready For a Spin

Posted May 14th, 2008 by Steve Levenstein

The GEN H-4 helicopter during desert testingThe GEN H-4 helicopter during desert testing
Those of us who've been dreaming of cheap personal air travel in the Buck Rogers, sci-fi jet-pack mode should turn their eyes towards Vinci, Italy on May 25. That's when Gennai Yanagisawa, inventor of the tiny GEN H-4 personal helicopter, will be taking his lightweight 165-pound whirly-gig on a demonstration flight.

Why Vinci? According to the 75-year-old Yanagisawa, "Since the concept of our helicopter came from Italy, I always wanted to take a flight in the birthplace of da Vinci."



Yanagisawa's inspiration: da Vinci's 1493 ornithopterYanagisawa's inspiration: da Vinci's 1493 ornithopter
Indeed, Leonardo's famous notebook drawings from 1493 show an "ornithopter" with a screw-like rotor. Like da Vinci's pioneering design, Yanagisawa's GEN H-4 has no tail. Instead, twin counter-rotating propellers cancel out the torque that requires single-rotor helicopters to have a perpendicular tail rotor.



GEN H-4 -- the cheaper chopperGEN H-4 -- the cheaper chopper
The GEN H-4 personal helicopter is actually available for purchase now, though Yanagisawa's company (located in the Japanese city of Matsumoto) has so far sold only six (2 in the USA).

The cost for one is a reasonable $58,250 and once airborne, the GEN H-4 can fly at a somewhat sedate speed of 31 mph - slow yes, but probably faster than rush hour traffic. Veni, vidi, volanti! (via Yahoo! News)



Steve Levenstein
J A P A N O R A M A
InventorSpot.com



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Comments

lol

Submitted on May 15th, 2008 by Anonymous

Nice


hrrrmmmm

Submitted on May 15th, 2008 by Anonymous

Drop the price a good 50k and EVERYONE can have one! Then we can ALL flood the sky and crash into each other... Woohoo natural selection at it's best..


My husband would love this

Submitted on May 15th, 2008 by Gloria Campos
Gloria Campos's picture

Just forwarded it to him :)


interesting, i wonder what

Submitted on May 15th, 2008 by Anonymous

interesting, i wonder what the MPG works out to be, and what the range of the thing is.


lmao it will certanly get

Submitted on May 16th, 2008 by Anonymous

lmao it will certanly get the most dangerous vehicle award


RE: My husband would love this

Submitted on May 16th, 2008 by Anonymous

Hey, that's great sweetheart. What were you married, like, three weeks ago or something?


with an attitude like that, she's likely to stay married!

Submitted on May 17th, 2008 by Anonymous

A preemptive strike at the Darwin award?

Submitted on May 19th, 2008 by Anonymous

Humas dreams towards flight just might have taken a step in the wrong direction.
This is great for (stunt) shows, but I can't imagen this in the private sector.


Sold

Submitted on May 19th, 2008 by Anonymous

I will buy 25 of these for my resort. This will be great for the paying customer; the right price. Good luck!


Cost and Method of this Helicopter

Submitted on May 25th, 2008 by Anonymous

Sir You have made a excellent helicopter but I think there is reqmt to develope this helicopter sothat it can be cheeper to buy everyone. Please send me the hole method to make this helicopter and the current cost of this helicopter.

My email address is nikku30d@rediffmail.com


Fantastic Idea but..........

Submitted on May 27th, 2008 by Anonymous

This is a fantastic invention but not everyone has the guts to get on this baby to fly. When you think about it only about 2% of the world's population are pilots. More people need to be exposed to the safer aspects of flying instead of "Seconds From Disaster". It's definitely on my christmas list this year. With the proper marketing and selling points this product could make everyone's life easier. There would have to be proper legislation in place to ensure public and private safety. With all that said it's the sweetest invention since choclate.


Imagine Drunk Hovering?????

Submitted on May 27th, 2008 by Anonymous

Let's hope no one decides to have one too many before getting on this whirly-gig.


Correction not quite 2 %

Submitted on May 27th, 2008 by Anonymous

Not quite 2% even from the start. It's a lot less than that sir but I agree it's a fantastic invention.


Closest......

Submitted on May 27th, 2008 by Anonymous

Closest thing to Tony Stark's IRON MAN suit I've seen so far. YYYYYAAAAAAYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


JUST WHEN OIL GOT SO EXPENSIVE

Submitted on June 14th, 2008 by Anonymous

Man, might as well drive a V8.


sure behbeh

Submitted on June 14th, 2008 by Anonymous

your thinking of your husband are you now? drop me a line and I will fly you around my rotor.


face

Submitted on August 18th, 2008 by Anonymous

id buy it and smuggle crack!!!


i already bought one

Submitted on August 28th, 2008 by Anonymous

no i havnt no i have . wateva.. but if i own one or not, one thing i can say, this is not a comfortable one


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