Just heard a radio interview with the designer. Interesting stuff around how he came up with the design and potential practical applications. He said he had been approached by companies and government agencies looking at it for search and rescue or disaster relief as it would be easier to get into tight spots than a regular helo.
He reckons someone could walk off the street and with 20 mins instruction be ready to fly solo. Although he recommends lots of practise and a bit more training than that to become procfient with the controls and to build up muscle memory.
The asking price at the moment is NZ$100,000!
I guess if it gets into large scale mass production like jetski's or snowmobile's then the cost will come down. I reckon I might look at one if that happens and the prices end up down around the AU$10-20k mark.
EDIT: Even better they are looking for test pilots! Woot, Looks like I could be off to NZ soon!
http://www.totalexperience.co.nz/bro...&LocationID=41