Now THIS is personal flight

[unixronin]

You're looking at a strap-on rigid "stealth wing" made of graphite fiber, developed by German company ESG, and slated to be used by elite special forces in addition to a parachute.  Instead of a HALO insertion within a few miles of the target, an infiltration team equipped with the mono-wing could be dropped by a high-altitude transport aircraft as far as 120 miles from their target, gliding to the target area at 220mph carrying up to 200lb of equipment and weapons before opening a parachute for the final landing.  The mono-wing is completely silent, and extremely difficult to detect on radar.

ESG is even considering powered versions that could extend the range still further.  They're talking small turbojets, but for daytime use, I have to wonder how much thrust you could get from a ducted fan powered by photovoltaic panels on the upper surface of the wing.  How about strapping on a wing to fly to the office?  If this tech reaches the public sector, I can see streamlined racing wings, high-aspect-ratio soaring wings, maybe relay races of winged athletes, or a new generation of team games played a thousand feet in the air.  Last year you toured the Grand Canyon by boat; maybe five years from now, you'll be able to tour it from the air, under your own personal set of wings.

The one question I have is whether there's a way to land one of these things without using a parachute.  Logic says you should be able to pull up just above the ground and progressively increase your angle of attack, bleeding off speed until you stall, but the article doesn't mention what the mono-wing's stalling speed is.  Perhaps a more lightly-loaded civilian version with wider span and less sweep might stall at a low enough speed to let you land at a run.

Linkage from koyote

Comments

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

True; possibly something like a cruise-missile powerplant, or something even smaller. Cruise missiles have led to great strides in the efficiency and power-to-weight output of very small turbojets.