why aren’t there human-piloted quad-rotors?
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There are human powered helocopters. They are about the size of a football field. They got a professional bike rider to pedal and it maintained flight for about a minute and 10-12 feet off the ground.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AeroVelo_Atlas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AeroVelo_Atlas)
Google ‘human piloted quad copter’ and you will find countless examples of fully working prototypes. However the main design feature tends to be 8+ rotors, not 4. It’s a twinned, redundant system. Because plummeting to your death.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterlyon/2022/06/30/jetsons-one-is-part-flying-sports-car-and-part-drone/amp/
https://blog.dronetrader.com/top-passenger-drones-helicopters-drone-taxis/
They aren’t popular yet because the flight time is too short but that changes this fall as CATL and AMPRIS have both released 500wh/kg batteries designed for flight certified applications. That is double what the best batteries can do to date. CATL is claiming their gen 2 version will do 711wh/kg and that is a year out. That is nearly triple the battery.
So it’s coming fast. The companies pumping out personal drones now are doing so to get the flight certifications taken care of now, then they’ll get the fancy batteries next year.
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