Bell Helicopters takes a look at an Israeli flying rescue vehicle

Published 2 February 2007

Helicopter-like machine relies on fans rather than rotor blades, allowing for greater maneuverability in the urban environment; Urban Aeronautics sees a market for first responders and military; craft can sidle up to a building and evacuate residents out of a window

One cannot use Rafi Yoeli’s flying car to go back to the future, but it just might ensure one has a future at all. His company, Yavne, Israel-based Urban Aeronautics, is in serious discussion with Textron’s Bell Helicopters to market his flying utility vehicle as an emergency rescue craft for both urban and battlefield conditions. “The reality is that we have not been designing helicopters to operate in urban environments,” said M.E. Rhett Flater of the American Helicopter Society. “What Rafi is doing is addressing that need to design some kind of vehicle that can operate in an urban environment, that can get close to buildings and skyscrapers, and provide some type of relief for people stranded in buildings.” So far, the X-Hawk, which resembles a helicopter but has no exposed blades that might get caught in power lines, has gotten only three feet off the ground.

Once complete, X-Hawk will be able to take off vertically, fly up to 155 miles an hour and as high as 12,000 feet and remain aloft for two hours. Instead of exposed rotors, encased fans will be used to provide lift and maneuverability (as well as quiet), while a patented system of vanes profides increased stability. Ideally, the X-Hawk will be able to sidle right up to a building. Two models will be created: a civilian, 10-passenger version for use in rescue missions, utility work or executive transport (projected cost: $3.5 million), and a military model carrying a dozen people and more sophisticated equipment ($6 million). Yoeli expects to begin production by 2009 and hopes to sell 250 to 300 annually. “You sit in a traffic jam, and everyone gets this urge: I want to get up now, and over this,” he said. “You need a certain kind of machine. I think X-Hawk can do it.”

-read more in Amy Teibel’s AP report