At the age of about 12, David Mayman tried to build a helicopter out of scraps of fence and an old lawnmower.
Needless to say, this attempt was not very successful. His machine could not fly and he also had to repair the garden fence.
‘I was brought up in such a way that I think science became something of a challenge for me. I was always told that nothing is impossible.’
During his childhood days in Sydney, Australia, he used to try to do things beyond his age. After growing up, David Mayman built advanced machines that could actually fly.
After selling his online business, he built a jetpack that he flew around the Statue of Liberty in New York.
But since 2018, he has been working on a different project which he believes will give him more business opportunities.
Their new machine, dubbed the Speeder, is a flying motorcycle. It will rise vertically in the air and then fly at a very high speed. The size of this machine will be enough to fit in a pick-up truck.
The speeder is one of several flying machine projects in the works.
Hundreds of such flying machines are in development, called EVTOL, or Electric Vehicle Take-off and Landing. Engineers hope that the era of cheaper and quieter air transport will soon begin.
However, David Mayman’s machine is very different from these aircraft. Instead of batteries and an electric motor, Mayman’s speeder is powered by four small engines powered by aviation fuel.
This is a step backwards in terms of innovation and technology, but Mayman believes that only liquid fuel will attract consumers.
He says the military, emergency services and the offshore oil and gas industry want an aircraft that is small and can carry a lot of weight. For that you need a jet fuel that provides 20 times more power to lift a given weight than batteries. Carrying that much weight would require heavier and larger batteries.
David Mayman explains that ‘if you want to carry a certain weight of cargo and the aircraft in which it is to go you want it to have a certain range and speed, then this can only be done with existing technology, i.e. turbines. Can be through the engine itself.
Mayman came up with the idea for the speeder while working with the US Navy. The Navy was interested in acquiring jetpacks for its special forces, the SEALs.
Similarly, the situation was the same in the aviation industry. You start working on a machine with a specific feature and soon a machine with a completely different feature comes up.’
David Mayman said that he initially wanted an air machine that could lift 95 kg, but it was only as the project was being worked on that there was talk of a machine that could lift 135 kg. In addition, they wanted someone to be trained for this job in 10 minutes.
All this could not happen with the current jetpack. He wanted a machine that was big and easy to fly. So that’s how the Speeder Project came into being. Some of the jetpack technology came in handy for this, but most had to be done from scratch.
In a jet pack, the pilot has to control the direction of flight, while in a speeder, this is done by an electronic flight control system.
The owner of the speeder will not need a license because the speeder’s flight control system does most of the work during flight, Mayman said.
‘Spider is effectively an artificial intelligence machine that knows when to do what needs to be done. It controls the engines as needed.
David Mayman hopes the speeder will be used to transport equipment. He believes that various institutions will show interest in the speeder, especially the armed forces and emergency services will increase the demand for the speeder.
The speeder has a top speed of 200 miles per hour and can fly for up to 60 minutes. Mayman says it could help the military and emergency services get essential supplies to the desired location very quickly.
Also in cargo mode, when flown by remote control, it can travel at speeds of up to 500 miles per hour and can carry up to 450 kilograms.
According to David Mayman, because it is a small and compact machine, it can travel in all kinds of weather and is thus more efficient than a helicopter.
But if you’re more excited and happy to sit on it and fly over buses, cars and traffic, Mayman says it’s unlikely it’ll be used in cities.
‘It makes noise, it’s very powerful and it’s very small. I don’t think an aircraft the size of your dining table is needed in urban areas.’