When I first listened to Elohar's mind and she was thinking about having her own personal solar powered helicopter I envisioned something like a Flying Vespa because she was in Nice, France. However, after sort of mind melding more with her as an intuitive I could see the real 70th Century first time line (pre 2001. The two timelines split then on 9-11). However, as my mind melded more into the 70th century I got a much firmer picture of what this (flying Vespa) actually was. And it is mostly different than other helicopters of today.
I'll try to describe it in a useful way. It is constructed a lot of what I would call Super Kevlar. It can compact into something under 50 to 75 pounds and can be carried like a backpack. As long as the sun is out there is no range limit, only the concentration of the rider and driver as a pilot. So when I finally saw it for what it was I was very surprised. The whole thing can be 6 ft tall and 2 foot wide by 1 foot wide and some can even be folded into three foot by 2 foot by 2 foot in size for packing and hiking so one could hike in with it as a backpack and then fly out or vice versa to almost any location weather permitting.
Next, computers and artificial intelligence have evolved to the point where the helicopter is sentient. So it can automatically spread its rotors and then string solar panels in a circle between them if there is no or little wind and plenty of sun. Of course it is stationary waiting to be ridden when it does this. But if one decides to deploy the kevlar frame around the rider for bumpy or windy flight then the see through plastic panels of kevlar double as solar cells in flight. So the rider can ride enclosed or not as he or she chooses. If a pilot was seat belted in and injured or unconscious the helicopter can fly him or her home.
So the most popular models in the 70th Century are portable and backpackable and are sentient and can fly you out of anywhere if you are sick or drunk or incapacitated in any way. And the helicopter will automatically know if something is wrong with you because it checks your vital signs before it will allow you to fly it.
So, for example on a sunny day you are backpacking somewhere on a mountain and you are carrying this 50 to 75 pound sentient backpack that folds out into a solar powered helicopter. Whenever you stopped or even when you were walking if it was convenient or useful or both the helicopter folded out a solar array as you were hiking if there was no wind to maximize battery life in case there was an emergency during the night and it had to fly you out. So as you are backpacking early in the morning there is still plenty of battery power from the day before. So you ask it to unfurl into a bicycle seat and back with a standard shoulder strap and seat belt. Because it is a beautiful day you don't need to be covered by anything or to be enclosed because of bad weather. So you lift off with your other friends each on their own solar powered helicopter. You were all backpacking with in the Alps, or Rockies or Andes or Himalayas or plains or deserts or along the beach or lake or river or wherever and as long as you are aware of up and down drafts around mountains you safely fly home 100 to 600 miles that day or more given the right tailwinds. If the wind or sun hurts your eyes you can deploy a helmet with a built in face shield. If you get cold from flying at high altitude or just from weather you can deploy the kevlar see through shell that acts as a very small cabin around you.
The most popular model is the single passenger but there are models that carry two or more as well. However, the two passenger model breaks down into two backpacks and beyond that they don't usually break down unless custom made for you to do that.
As I went over in my mind what was needed for this to be feasible in this century, (the 21st) all the potential elements needed were there. For example, even now Kevlar is being used because it is 6 times stronger than steel and much lighter in the outer shell of the newest blimps that will be used for military reconnaisance and 20,000 foot high GPS mobile platforms. So Kevlar makes perfect sense to make something lightweight and strong. The Roswell ship is supposed to have had something like Kevlar covering the outside of it. So that is likely where we got it from according to Colonel Corso in his book "The Day After Roswell".
So, then the other three things needed would be higher level artificial intelligence, lighter and more powerful and dependable electric motors with a lot of torque for spinning a big rotor at high speeds. Probably a metal or light weight Kevlar rotor or composite of both metal and Kevlar. And the next generations of super efficient solar cells. Since solar cells are moving forward about as fast as Computer chips did during the 80s, 90s, and the first 10 years of this century it won't be long before this will all be possible.
later: I realized one day later that all the outer "skin" of the helicopter is a type of solar cell. So if the battery power for any reason goes below 1/4 battery power the helicopter becomes stationary in the air for a moment (if you are presently flying) while it deploys extra cells by deploying the portable bubble or small one man cabin that is very aerodynamic for cutting through the air. This surface area increases the external surface by 10 or 20 times and thereby increases potential solar gathering that much too. If the helicopter goes below 1/8th battery power it simply lands and deploys its full solar area on the top between the blades and pivots them towards the sun until it reaches at least 1/2 battery power again. So even as the helicopter is flying the blades even are covered with solar cells. So literally ALL surface area are solar cells and collectors. The type of solar cells they use are a combination of solar cells and battery combined. So no battery other than the outer surface area is required. This is why the weight can be limited to 50 to 75 pounds depending upon the power plant (horsepower of the electrical motor). The faster you want to travel the heavier the unit needs to be. A 75 pound unit travels 200 miles per hour. A 50 pound unit travels between 100 and 150 mph much like a Cessna 152 or other private plane. However, the advantage of taking off from literally anywhere, and as long as there is sun one could literally travel around the world in a few weeks (mainly overland) is a really great advantage if you are traveling alone or in groups of helicopters.
Note: Though the helicopter could be a hybrid it likely would be too heavy to pack in on one's back and might need to be parachuted in or driven into a flying location on a truck. By combining Solar cell and battery combined units with a small gasoline engine, as long as you had either sun or enough gasoline you could fly this thing day or night as long as the weather was permitting.
Also, As I looked at it more closely it didn't have a rear rotor, instead the tripod landing gear also had a reverse rotor effect.So it had a gyroscopic stablizing effect on the helicopter. So it behaved like a much bigger stabler vehicle while being very light and maneuverable. So when the above rotor blade went one direction the landing tripod which was actually a smaller thing with 3 blades which each ended with about an 8 inch sphere of Kevlar or metal Kevlar combo spun (one inch after takeoff the opposite direction as the rotor above one's head. The opposite thing happened during landing that about 1 inch before landing the lower blade (landing tripod) stopped rotating and remained completely stationary with one pod forward and two to the sides for perfect support on level ground. Also, for landing in other conditions extra supports could be deployed of various kinds. In a flight extreme emergency the rotors would separate and go down with their own parachutes to be recovered later and one of two emergency chutes would be vertically deployed for safe descent of pilot and helicopter if above 600 to 1000 feet from ground. Because of this most pilots flew on average of about 2500 feet from the ground unless they were trying to fly fast to a distant location and then often flew around 7000 feet to 12,000 feet depending upon whether they had a small oxygen tank if the altitude made them sleepy or not. Or if the helicopter was flying itself through Artificial intelligence the pilot might just sleep or pass out if there was no danger of brain damage from the altitude while the pilot was unconscious. However, most people who used this type of vehicle tended to be 12 to 35 years of age and most of these people were pretty healthy and would be okay up to 20,000 feet in altitude depending upon the lung capacity of the person and what they were used to in their lives and the conditions they normally lived in.
The vehicle does have a fish tail like stablizer behind the pilot. It is designed to work well aerodynamically at any speed up to 200 mph or beyond and with or without the self deployed cockpit made of see through Kevlar.
As I thought more about this helicopter and looked inside Elohar's mind as well as the minds who designed it during the 69th and 70th centuries I began to see the logic of the invention. First of all, if you were living on a planet where most humans on the 1st earth timeline have been modified by continuous exposure to nuclear radiation from nuclear blasts you have major genetic damage so most people are animals not civilized anymore. However, you still need in Europe where ways have been found to cleanse the radiation out of the genome as much as possible where people are now much like today on earth in that area at least. So the solar powered helicopter would make sense for prospectors to fly to uncivilized locations to scout for minerals to be mined. Since the locals in most of those areas are no longer intelligent beyond about what wolves are because of radiation exposure by sending robots in to mine wouldn't be a real problem to obtain metals needed for a technological civilization in europe based in Switzerland at altitude to prevent unnecessary wind exposure to radiation dust. Though some exposure occurs and the rain always brings the radiation to earth much of the effects can be managed in order to maintain a technological civilization and culture out of Switzerland which was a neutral country in 2001 when the world nuclear snafu occured on the first time line.
Note: a conversation between a sentient helicopter and a pilot as the pilot walks along a trail in the Alps:
"Pilot?" The male or female pilot who is hiking the trail then says "Yes" or "Oui" or "Ya" or "Da" or whatever language the pilot wants to speak. The helicopter can talk in about 10 basic languages at that point. The limitation of languages is that most people who speak other languages on that timeline have been dead for 5000 years.
So, once again, "Pilot?" "Yes. (or an equivalent)" "May I unfurl the solar array to generate power as we walk? There are no current breezes and I will compensate if any come up so you don't fall down or stumble with either gyro or movement or whatever it takes." The pilot can reply anything. For example, if the pilot is carrying his or her weight limit the pilot might say, "I'm at my weight limit and I think you won't be able to compensate should there be a gust. Let's wait until there is a safe stationary spot for you to unfurl the solar array." Or the pilot could say, "We are presently at about 75% power and we still have plenty of sunlight left. Let's wait." Or the pilot could say, "We are presently on the level and I'm not carrying much weight and there are no cliffs or rocks or thorns for me to fall on or into so why don't you unfurl. Also, the sun is burning my skin so when you unfurl could you tint the solar array so I don't sunburn so much?" This is a typical conversation between the sentient helicopter in any of the 10 languages still alive on earth at that time in Europe. These 10 languages still alive at this time are:
English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Arabic, Persian, Russian, Polish, and what is called "the Mixture" which is parts of all these remaining languages all interspersed. The helicopter can speak in any of these 10 languages. There is another colony of humans in the Himalayas Tibet and there they speak Tibetan and various Chinese dialects and Japanese and I'm told Japanese and Korean. Though they also speak a combination language the single most common language at this point on earth is: "The mixture" because of Arcane bringing technology first back to Switzerland which was one of his homes along with Paris, New York, California and Hawaii. Also, technology at this time had also made it to Tibet where ancient Tibetan ecological techniques like polyandry and raising barley had kept people alive above 8000 feet. Unfortunately, all people on earth still at this time who lived full time below 7000 feet often didn't live past age 30 and most were incapable of any technical or formal education for a variety of reasons both genetic and psychological.
Here is more on the development and use of these helicopters. I try to focus mostly on the one Elohar uses which is a one man portable 50 pound type. Please click "more on solar powered helicopters below" if interested.
more on solar powered Helicopters 70th century
Or to return to the mini-book this helicopter description is based on please click
Elohar: The girl in the Forest
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