Singapore students build personal flying machine

A team of engineering students from Singapore University (NUS) has designed and built an electrically powered personal flying machine, capable of short flight times of around five minutes.

Known as Snowstorm, the aircraft consists of a hexagonal frame made from anodised aluminium beams, carbon fibre plates and tubes with Kevlar ropes. Lift is provided by 24 propellers each with a diameter of 76cm, powered by a 2.2kW motor. A pilot weighing up to 70kg sits in the centre of the vehicle, and six landing legs with inflatable balls at their base support it when touching down. Power comes from three independent lithium batteries that deliver a total output of 52.8kW

“A common trope in popular science fiction is the projection of humans flying on our own – think the Jetsons, or even Back to the Future,” said Dr Joerg Weigl, from the National University of Singapore (NUS) Faculty of Engineering, one of two supervisors of the project.