"robert arndt" wrote in message
om...
http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/06/11/30172.html

Too bad they got the history wrong. The Germans had it first during
WW2 with Baumgartl's Heliofly III:

http://www.germanvtol.com/baumgartl/baungertl.html

Rob


"Some Russian Internet publications reported about the unique
development of the Omsk aerospace association Polyot (Flight), which
developed a backpack helicopter: Yula. This aircraft does not have any
analogue in the whole world. The weight of the helicopter is 20 kilos,
the flight speed is 120 kilometers per hour, the flying height is 1000
meters, and the active time of the flight is 25 minutes. When the
helicopter is folded, it looks like a roll 50 cm long. "

It sounds quite dangerous in that blades might be quite dangerous if
the hit the ground when a pilot stumbled. Nevertheless cold tip jet
ducted fans or cold tip jet rotors are all possible as are miniature
turboshafts.

On the other hand it is safer than the Williams back pack turbofan
belts developed in the US: Failure allows auto rotation.