Inventor Designs 'Magic Carpet'
May 7 -- It saved Aladdin's neck in the children's story — and now a former Russian aerospace engineer is hoping his own magic carpet will do the same for others.
An aerospace engineer in Israel may have a space-age solution to a problem facing urban firefighters — how to rescue people trapped in high-rise buildings. Traditional methods like ladders and helicopters have their limitations.
We've had a sort of hovering craft for a long time now — the helicopter — but they can actually make fires more dangerous. The problem is the "open rotor," said David Metreveli, a former Russian aerospace engineer. It actually increases the intensity of a blaze by fanning flames and creating more debris. Ladders are also fairly limited. They can only go up eight stories before they become unstable.
But Metreveli and his company, DM Aerosafe Group, are in the midst of creating a vertical take-off platform. It would hover next to burning buildings, making it possible for people to climb out, Metreveli said. It could handle up to 10 people, seated or on a stretcher.
Called the Eagle, the $5 million rescue platform — cheaper than many helicopters — would have a lightweight graphite composite structure. It would be lined with heat-resistant rubber on the edges so it could bump into buildings during rescue operations. The pilot would be cocooned from flying debris by a shatter-proof glass cockpit.
Four horizontal fans would lift the platform, which would be protected from debris by tough Kevlar ducts and metal grilles. Two turbojet engines inside the fuselage are designed to power the fans. The fans will be linked to the engines through a central gearbox, with a clutch that will keep the platform flying even if one engine fails.
Could This Bird Fly?
Metreveli and his flying platform have some sceptics.
"It's got a long way to go," said George Burke, spokesman for the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) in Washington, D.C. The IAFF represents more than 225,000 professional firefighters and emergency service personnel in the United States and Canada.
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