WORD WRAP ON...

Skywalker II Flying Platform

Inspired by the work of Charles Zimmerman, this is a short-range personal flying machine with a difference.

No computers, no fly-by-wire, no complicated stability augmentation system etc.  It is the aircraft’s INSTABILITY that is the key to its controllability...

Charles Zimmerman figured out that although we don't FLY instinctively, one thing we're really good at is standing up and keeping our balance and went on to prove that you could control a flying platform by just tilting your feet!

His 'Flying Shoes' design was not in itself successful but it paved the way for a design that was.

This is a similar concept that also borrows an idea pioneered by Ryan - The ends of the fan blades are continued through a small slit in the duct wall to form impellors that are driven by the jet exhausts.  The two fans are geared together so that should you suffer an engine failure the remaining engine will drive both fans.

Controls are;  A twistgrip throttle to vary the thrust, handlebars for yaw by controlling lateral vanes in the fan downwash and weight-shift.  Just lean the way you want to go.  The vertical fins on the skids are fixed and are there to aid directional stability.


Installing:

Drop the SkywalkerII folder into your main Aircraft folder.
Aircraft will show up as Unreal Aviation Skywalker II.

There is no 2D panel and so I recommend you download 'Heli-HUD' by Stephen Hanley available from Hovercontrol and other sources.


Flying:

It's a helicopter - Crash in the normal way.  :-)

CTRL SHIFT F4 to start engine.
This being a standard M$ helicopter .AIR file you can auto rotate should you get an engine failure.  In real life, this is impossible as the fans are fixed-pitch and even if they weren't, have insufficient disk area.  The pilot wears a parachute, which, is a bit of a catch 22 as normal operational height would be around 50-100 feet, and you would need at least 300 to deploy it safely.  The Skywalker II pilot's motto is "Never fly higher than you're prepared to jump".  :-)


That's it, have fun.


Kevin Bryan
Unreal Aviation
whirlybug@cix.co.uk
