How does an Aerodyne work?

[hjalmaror]

How does an Aerodyne work?

I'm just curious if there's an explanation for how the bladerunner spinner lookalikes work in the cyberpunk setting. I'm sure most doesn't really care how the physics work and has a higher suspension of disbelief but as a sci-fi fan i'm actually wondering the science behind it
i found on wikipedia concerning the bladerunner spinner

The vehicle was conceived and designed by Syd Mead who described the spinner as an "aerodyne" – a vehicle which directs air downward to create lift, though press kits for the film stated that the spinner was propelled by three engines: "conventional internal combustion, jet, and anti-gravity".

If they'r powered by jet engines wouldn't it be kind of dangerous in an urban environmental?

 

[ad1066]

AVs were described as using vectored thrust via rotatable nacelles, same as the Harrier jet.

-- Ben

 

[wisdom000]

Pretty much what AD said, the Harrier, the F-35.... aerodynes in Cyberpunk 2020 use pretty much the same tech, most of them just forgo the jet fighter mode.

Other AV's used enclosed ducted fan designs instead of jet engines, but the concept is the same... the fans are usually larger, and don't produce as much heat, but they also produce more wash

 

[eraser7278]

they have the aerodynamics of a brick and the thrust required to keep them airborne would create hurricane force jet wash (damaging passersby and buildings alike). it's one of those things where you just have to either suspend your disbelief or hand wave them out of existence.

 

[hjalmaror]

it's one of those things where you just have to either suspend your disbelief or hand wave them out of existence.

Yeah i guess you have to, thanks for the answers guys

 

[wisdom000]

they have the aerodynamics of a brick and the thrust required to keep them airborne would create hurricane force jet wash (damaging passersby and buildings alike). it's one of those things where you just have to either suspend your disbelief or hand wave them out of existence.

Honestly, its not all that much worse than a helicopter... Harriers land in grass field all the time, and only very rarely do they set the field on fire

 

[stahimooney]

I am not a jump jet pilot but I play one on tv and I have been drinking milf and staying at a Holiday Inn. In a former life I spent alot of time on flight decks of big metal things in close vicinity of JP5 and expensive toys. I know that an idling Tomcat can pick up a penny and ingest it at 50ft or so. Very much like me at an all you can eat Korean BBQ Buffet. On the AV side of the house the wash wasn't so bad but the noise was DEAFENING. Also harriers have a VERY limited hover time. They have to carry water (just behind the pilot) to cool the engine(s) in full hover. It's measured in minutes. (I want to say something like 6 minutes total, but don't quote me on that)

If you think of them as absurdly expensive--I mean how many mid level drug dealers IRL have helicopters... the AV's would in an ideal world be regulated to the rooftops of corporate buildings hundreds of feet in the air with private landing zones and so on. Not a stretch of the imagination. Just make them a little more restricted.

Edit... 90 seconds on full cooling flow... but that isn't always needed. The number is 5-10 minutes of hover. I looked it up.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_long_can_a_Harrier_jet_hover

 

[wisdom000]

If you think of them as absurdly expensive--I mean how many mid level drug dealers IRL have helicopters... the AV's would in an ideal world be regulated to the rooftops of corporate buildings hundreds of feet in the air with private landing zones and so on. Not a stretch of the imagination. Just make them a little more restricted.
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Agreed comletely...

I can believe in AV's, but I can;t believe in crowded skies ala fifth element...

The skies may be more crowded in night city than in normal cities today, but they are going to be wall to wall... at most, on a normal day, looking at the skyline, you may see 2-3 at once...

 

[deathntaxes]

Magic...Movie Magic.

I always assumed that they worked like helicopters you get the wash but more focused and less loud. Due to sound dampening/better engine technology. But definitely like Helicopters man.

More common, but still regulated to governements and organziations that can afford the upkeep etc. With that said I don't think helicopters are gone from the CP world more like turbofan stuff.

 

[ynotnoswad]

Why you only see Corpos riding in them!

 

[msxyz]

Honestly, its not all that much worse than a helicopter... Harriers land in grass field all the time, and only very rarely do they set the field on fire

Helicopters distribute the force over the whole 'disk' of the propeller (that is, the area swept by the blades during their circular motion), jet engines have their thrust confined into a small area; on top of that, the gases coming out of the rear duct are very hot! It wouldn't be possible to stand so close to a full power jet. Moreover, whatever engines they use in the CP universe, they're depicted as emitting hot white/blue flames, while planes like the Harrier or the F35 have turbofans, in which hot gases are diluted with cold hair 'pumped' by large, ducted propellers therefore the 'wash' generated is not remotely comparable.

If you want to see what it looks like the effect of a powerful (around 7 ton of thrust) jet engine on afterburner, look at this video:

after the 54:50 mark

 

[SpookyFX]

I lived on GUAM in the 1970s and there were many UFO sightings that made the newspapers then. It turned out (as we found out 10 years later) that it was just that the USA was testing vertical lift vehicles on my little island at the time. Small nobody cares 30 by 5 miles scrap of land in the middle of the ocean with TWO military bases on it. I guess it was the perfect place for such tests...