This Flying ATV Might Bring Farming Into a Cyberpunk Future

The Daily Beast

It’s easier to operate a flying ATV than you think—or, at least it was for me. That’s not a humblebrag either. It was designed so any idiot like me—who backs up into his recycling bin every time he pulls out of the driveway—can jump in and use it.

Making sure I fly without freaking out, though, was another question entirely.

“Alright, you’re doing great,” the voice of Mick Kowitz, the CEO and founder of RYSE Aero Technologies, chirped in my ear via a radio relay in my helmet. “Now just pull back on the left handle and press the button to take off.”

The machine I was sitting in—dubbed the RECON—is known as an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and it’s Kowitz’s brainchild. While not technically a flying ATV, it’s pretty damn close. As I pulled back on the handle, six battery powered propellers whirred to life around me and my seat began to rumble. Images of the new Top Gun movie flashed in my mind’s eye before a macabre intrusive thought popped into my head: If I stuck out my arm just a little bit, I’d sever my hand entirely from my arm. A shiver ran down my spine as I attempted to bury the mental image.

 

I pressed the takeoff button on the center console. For a moment, nothing happened. As I was about to tell Mick that something was wrong, though, the motors whirred louder as the RECON lurched sideways. Before I could react, I felt a weight on my chest and my heart jump into my throat as it lifted me off the ground and into the sky.

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Full Specifications V1/V2

An ultralight electric vertical takeoff & landing vehicle, powered by six independent motors.

BATTERY SYSTEM

SIX WATERPROOF, REMOVABLE 100VDC BATTERIES PROVIDING APPROX. 20 MINUTES OF FLIGHT TIME

TOP SPEED

63 MPH

MAX ALTITUDE

400 FT AGL, 10,000 MSL 

OPERATING WIND

22 KTS

CRUISING SPEED

35 KTS

MOTORS

40KV 52 PAIR POLE WATER RESISTANT

SPEED CONTROLLERS

200AMPS

GNSS/GPS & AHRS

FULLY INTEGRATED INS, GNSS/GPS AND AHRS WITH DEGRADATION REDUNDANCY

WATER LANDING SYSTEM

SIX INDEPENDENT OUTRIGGER FLOATS AND TWO FUSELAGE FLOATS  FOR LANDING WITH 250LBS. OCCUPANT

DIMENSIONS

188 IN X 89 IN X 57 IN

WEIGHT

129.7 KG (286 LBS)

CONTROL SYSTEM

CUSTOM 12 INCH RESISTIVE TOUCH DISPLAY

FRAME

ALUMINUM

PROPULSION MODULES

SIX

PROPELLER

60 IN X 19 IN CARBON FIBER

OPERATOR SEAT

CARBON FIBER/ KEVALR BREAKWAY SAFETY SEAT

JOYSTICKS

VERTICAL SINGLE AXIS AND TWO AXIS DIRECTIONAL