One-Man Amphibious 'Copter' [video] (1955)

My palms are sweating after watching that. Risk incarnate.

That being said, I wish modern news and video had more of the magic from this time period when it comes to composition. Love the music and the narrative voice.

More information here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Lackner_HZ-1_Aerocycle

Originally developed by the US Army for reconnaissance.

Imagine losing your balance and falling off.

With guard rails and fully enclosed rotor blades, it might've worked. I can't think of anywhere to deploy it where it would have advantages over other modes of transportation. Desert, coastlines, ... but then what for? Landmine detection? It's also really loud, so no public or residential deployment.

And even if it had been hardened and dummy proofed, disruption of the blades would not have had many safe failure modes.

That is the equivalent of flying a food processor.

A friend of mine (miles van dorssen) built one of these and flew it in the park. I’d possibly been a little dubious until he found the old 80s handicam he filmed on, and I got to watch the tape through the viewfinder. In that tiny window I saw miles in a bike helmet hovering two feet in the on a violently shaking lawnmower quadcopter. I don’t know how google able miles is but he builds great things

The dream is definitely alive, as per this recent viral video

https://youtu.be/Pv5JQnmD1Yk

Apparently it’s from the inventor himself, with more info.

This vehicle, and a whole bunch of other early flying platforms, is on display at the Evergreen Air & Space museum in McMinnville OR, about an hour from Portland.

https://447bg.org/helicopters/dh4-helivector/

I'd call it Flying Segway

Hiller VZ-1, see it at the San Carlos Airport:

https://www.hiller.org/event/flying-platform/

Oh, wow, that brings back some nostalgia. There's a picture of this in one of Richard Scarry's non-Busytown books that I had as a child.

I wonder why it never caught on?

Can anybody figure out the year?