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RC Helicopter Enthusiasts "Get Carried Away" With World's First Human-Payload RC Flight

By Rain Noe - March 4, 2014

in Cars

HeliGraphix is the name of a Germany-based collective of RC helicopter enthusiasts who document their stunts online. The group's latest project, H.U.L.C.—that's "Heavy Ultra-Lifter Crane"F—sought to achieve what no one yet had: The ability to lift and carry a human being around using two small RC copters. I am so deathly afraid of heights that just watching this video made me want to get off of my office chair and lie down on the floor to feel safe.

While they make it look simple, it's hard to overstate how complicated it is to pull something like this off. The 'copters have to be strong enough to carry the woman (not to mention those crazy boots), and it's not like they're just lifting straight up; since there's two of them, they've got to pull sideways as well. Not to mention the pilots have to be precise enough to avoid dropping or jerking their payload. You'd think they'd try this over a body of water or something soft, so it's a testament to their skills and preparation that they did this over a concrete patio.

The group isn't shy about their accomplishment, having spent four months and "several thousand Euros" in preparation: They're touting it as "Clearly a world-record and one of the most monumental actions in the history of R/C model aviation: THE WORLD'S FIRST MANNED R/C FLIGHT!"

For tech geeks who are interested in the hardware, it's all documented in painstaking detail right here; for those with a passing interest in how they pulled this off, hit the jump to see the explanatory video.

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Rob

10 years ago

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Maybe the first manned flight for rc vehicles this small... but people who know helicopters might be aware that Kaman did this a while ago (1953):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1dIzvp5aMc

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sillius

10 years ago

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It won't be long until swarms of autonomous flying robots can swoop down and abduct citizens at will.
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Matt

10 years ago

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Dan, they are in development... have a look at http://www.e-volo.com/ ( I have no association with them ).

In the meantime though, this was a foolhardy publicity stunt for DJI. There is essentially zero redundancy built into the systems operating these aircraft... something bad enough for hobby use, but ridiculous for carrying humans. There was no need to lift a human in this demonstration.

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believe

10 years ago

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If it is too good to be true, it probably isn't. Just saying ;)
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Dan

10 years ago

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If two *relatively* inexpensive remote control helicopters (i'm an RC enthusiast myself) can lift a human being, WHY THE FUDGE do we not have personal aircraft yet? Would it really be that difficult to strap these two lift systems to a titanium frame with a body harness? They were lifting her pretty quickly, I'm assuming there's more than enough lift for an additional framework...

and yes, I realize those are only 4000mah batteries, and the flight time is low, but how cool would it be to fly 10 blocks down the street to grab a loaf of bread!?
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