Flying Tricycle Passes Manned Test Flight With Flying Colors

What looks like a cross between a drone, a tricycle, and a Star Wars speeder bike from Endor? This insane ride hails from Hungary; it's dubbed the Flike (flying tricopter) and designed by a team from Bay Zoltan Nonprofit Ltd. (which sounds like an evil genius conglomerate for charity). The Flike is an all-electric vehicle and uses a coaxial Y6 layout. This isn't a supersized remote control vehicle. Flike boasts a "full authority flight management computer" to control flight stability, lateral position, and altitude, making flying, "as easy as riding a bicycle."

For all its thrill-appeal, Flike's designers didn't leave safety completely out of the equation. They note, "Since the six rotors are grouped in counter-rotating pairs of three axes, Flike is safe by providing emergency lift upon the unlikely event of one of the motors getting inoperable."

Check out Flike's test flight in the video below.

It almost looks like a giant, manned quadcopter drone, except the Flike has three pairs of twin rotors. It looks far more fun than practical in its current form. I can't help but fear that a rider's hands or legs might get knicked (or severed) by the rotor blades. Even though the rotors are short, they are uncaged. I feel like either the blades should be enclosed or the rider should be encased, like a helicopter.

VIA: CNet