I was thinking, frisbees need to spin in order to stay aloft, so why not have a frisbee with 3 light motors in it, angled so that they not only spin the disc, they also produce lift. (45 degrees?) Then there is also a smaller motor in the very center which is mounted on a counter-rotating base (to keep it facing one direction as the thing spins) then the motor itself can rotate to face any direction, thus creating the thrust we need to propel the disc forward. i am sure that in about 3 years this would be very possible as micro-electronics become more advanced. This entire thing would be remote controlled and have a launch/land button where you would position it over a flat area, and hit the launch/land button and the thing could automatically land itself. It would run on batteries situated to be balanced in the middle of the disc. if the thing crashes, it would be more likely to survive it then a helicopter because the outside area is all a soft (not too soft) plastic.
-- Wraith, Sep 27 2002

Vectron Blackhawk http://www.firebox....ion=product&pid=324
Getting closer? [st3f, Sep 27 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]

R/C Flying discs http://www.angelfir...rties/draganfly.htm
Small dirigibles [8th of 7, Sep 27 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]

Aren't the original UFO sightings supposed to be a US Army (or whatever) flying device of just this type?
-- DrCurry, Sep 27 2002


try tying a small torch to a silver helium balloon so that it faces the bottom of the balloon, turn the torch on and let it go at night, heh heh then read the paper the next day to see how many people spotted your "UFO"
-- Gulherme, Sep 27 2002


As seen on mr. wizard: Take a dry cleaning bag and tie off the top, bend a small diameter dowel into a loop and use it to hold open the bottom, place a second dowel section across the loop, affix an aluminum foil cup and fill with sterno (gel alcohol). Hold upright, light (outdoors, preferrably) and enjoy. Sterno burns with a white flame and looks quite strange at night. I suppose you could use R/C nitromethane fuel to make this babbling have anything to do with the original idea, and you still get that cool white flame effect.
-- Mr Burns, Sep 27 2002


I'm not sure of the exact mechanism that keeps Frisbees aloft; I think it's the curved profile that profides the airfoil effect, the rotation is more or less incidental to the lift, but does provide stability. I'll ask one of the tame propellerheads how they work. I'd suggest CO2 pressure motors, they have a better power/weight ration than electrics. But I'm sure that this sort of model "flying disc" would practical up to quite a large scale - maybe not man-carrying , though. Directional guidance could be "interesting" .....

I'll give this a cautious croissant, although I suspect it may already be Baked somewhere or other.
-- 8th of 7, Sep 27 2002


It's not hard to make something that looks very much like a UFO using a dry-cleaning bag, four soda straws, some tape, some birthday candles, and a cold evening. In fact, I'm convinced that's what those famous "Phoenix Lights" were (http://www.cnn.com/US/9706/19/ufo.lights). A local university engineering department probably did it as a gag.
-- Ander, May 08 2003



random, halfbakery