Malloy Aeronautics (MA) is a UK based engineering company focusing on designing and building the best and most beautiful aero and engineered design solutions money can buy, at an affordable cost. They are know for doing reseach on hoverbike technology with a robot carrying drone. A few months later, it's partnering with a Maryland-based defense company to develop a hoverbike for the United States Miltary.
The goal is to replace some of the work a helicopter does with the hoverbikes, a vehicle that provides increased safety and costs significantly less. "With adducted rotors you immediately not only protect people and property if you were to bump into them, but if you ever were to bump into somebody or property it's going to bring the aircraft out of the air," Malloy's marketing sales director Grant Stapleton told Reuters. Funds from a Kickstarter campaign for those compact UAVs was used to build scale models capable of carrying a human -- one of which was on display at the Paris Air Show.
Malloy Aeronautics' hybrid Hoverbike works like a giant propeller drone that combines the lifting power of a helicopter with the look and feel of a motorcycle. It creates lift using two oak propellers powered by a 1,170-cc four-stroke engine and a lightweight carbon fiber body. The company claims its latest prototype has a maximum takeoff weight of 270 kilograms (just over 595 pounds) and can log a distance of 148 kilometers (just over 91 miles) on a single tank of gas.
The hoverbike project started as a hobby that engineer and company founder Chris Malloy worked on in his garage at home in Sydney, Australia. That hobby became a lucrative business as leaders of several industries started inquiring about the hoverbike and its possible applications for commercial and military uses, this is according to Malloy Aeronautics' website which shows detailed plans for the hoverbike. The hoverbike is still undergoing testing, and so far, it's only been seen taking flight with a rider onboard while tethered to the ground, according to MA.
