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Thread: eBay auction 'aircraft harassed by hackers'

  1. January 16th, 2003, 10:40 PM #1
    -DaRK-RaiDeR-
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    eBay auction 'aircraft harassed by hackers'

    Guys,

    Another interesting one...

    Michael Moshier stands next to his invention, the SoloTrek XFV, for Exoskeleton Flying Vehicle. The inventor of a strap-on flying machine for sale on eBay has a request for users of the site: stop hacking his auction. Since the personal aircraft went on sale last Friday on the popular auction site, bids have been pouring in -- some as high as $6 million. But Michael Moshier, the machine's inventor, said it soon became clear that many of the offers were coming from pranksters -- unwilling to shell out the cash to own the one-of-a-kind Solotrek XFV....
    Source and full story here

    Look at the machine picture..., it's funny, haha!!!

    Bye.

    DKRR
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  2. January 17th, 2003, 12:05 AM #2
    El Diablo
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    yah, there has been some serious debate in the Army about using that in the field. Would be interesting, but as of now it's a bit too heavy for the light infantry guys.

    I think the company that is making it has run out of funding and that's the only reason they are selling it. One of the caveats of the sale though is that you can never use it



    El Diablo
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  3. January 17th, 2003, 12:18 AM #3
    roswell1329
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    How useful could this thing possibly be? It's a fly-by-wire apparatus. Why would you have an independent individual flying machine that must remain tethered?
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  4. January 17th, 2003, 12:50 AM #4
    El Diablo
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    err fly by wire doesn't mean tethered. It means that there is no mechanical connection between the pilot's movement of the stick and the control surfaces. The flight computer can make decisions to optimize the aircraft (in this case apparatus? ) performance not possible with human reaction time. The F-14 is a perfect example of a fly-by-wire aircraft, and coincidentally the first production version of one too




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  5. January 17th, 2003, 06:46 AM #5
    The Old Man
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    Mosier was on TV the other day discussing the sale: He's selling it because he needs the $ for further development and refining of the concept. Up-front commercial R&D $ are a bit tight of late, and the Pentagon has not developed enough faith in the usefulness of such a rig to sponsor R&D. Also, Mosier said he was taking "critical" parts off the prototype, making it totally non-functional, so whoever bought it could only park it and look at it anyway. He thought some museum might like to buy it.
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  6. January 17th, 2003, 08:21 AM #6
    secretagent
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    hi

    anyone here ever watched the cartoon, 'the centurions'? does this machine remind you of something from it?

    regards,
    mark.
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  7. January 17th, 2003, 02:55 PM #7
    roswell1329
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    Originally posted here by El Diablo
    err fly by wire doesn't mean tethered. It means that there is no mechanical connection between the pilot's movement of the stick and the control surfaces. The flight computer can make decisions to optimize the aircraft (in this case apparatus? ) performance not possible with human reaction time. The F-14 is a perfect example of a fly-by-wire aircraft, and coincidentally the first production version of one too
    El Diablo
    Ah. Thanks for correcting me. Now I'm confused, though. If you look at all the action pictures, there's a wire leading from the craft offscreen. What is that about?

    I was thinking that fly-by-wire was controlled through an actual wire from the unit to the ground. Like the TOW missile. That thing is guided by an actual wire that the missile is connected to as it flies. The wire is fed through it's flight by a large spool sitting on the launcher.
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  8. January 17th, 2003, 03:05 PM #8
    11001001
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    Originally posted here by roswell1329

    If you look at all the action pictures, there's a wire leading from the craft offscreen. What is that about?
    They said on the website that the initial test flights were tethered because they were pretty much afraid of the thing breaking and the test pilot falling. So, they tethered it to a crane in the parking lot.

    Wired Story: http://www.wired.com/news/technology...,49792,00.html
    (Watch the video)


    Homepage: http://www.solotrek.com

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  9. January 17th, 2003, 03:13 PM #9
    iNViCTuS
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    sorry to everyone in advance for changing the subject, but 11001001: Does the number '201' mean anything to you or represent anything special, or did you just think it looked cool.

    I have been wondering for a while now, and I guess my curiosity finally got the best of me...
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  10. January 17th, 2003, 03:25 PM #10
    11001001
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    Originally posted here by iNViCTuS
    sorry to everyone in advance for changing the subject, but 11001001: Does the number '201' mean anything to you or represent anything special, or did you just think it looked cool.

    I have been wondering for a while now, and I guess my curiosity finally got the best of me...
    I'm sorry for straying off topic as well.

    When creating my account, all of my usual handles were taken. I don't particularly care for name/number combinations such as Maverick143, etc. While I was online I was watching the ST:TNG episode with the alien species "Binars." The title of the episode? -11001001
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