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BYU student helps develop
helicopter
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By GARNET DEAKINS
[email protected]
NewsNet Staff Writer
Japanese businessman, Gen Yanagisawa, dreamed
of flying and always wanted to invent something unique. Nine years ago,
he combined the two dreams and created the concept that eventually became
the GEN H-4 helicopter.
This past summer, Jon Plummer, a BYU
junior majoring in electronic engineering technology had the opportunity
to be the second person ever to operate the GEN H-4 when he completed an
internship with Yanagisawa's company, Engineering System Co.
“The 155-pound, one-man helicopter is a counter-rotating
design done as simply as the imagination allows. With four tiny engines
and an overhead-style joystick, the machine actually looks plausible and
flyable by mortal humans," said Dan Johnson in an article in the November
1999 issue of Kitplanes magazine. |
BYU student Jon Plummer takes the GENH-4 helicopter
for a spin. He spent the summer at an internship for the engineering company
in Japan that designed the small, personal helicopter.
Courtesy Of Jon Plummer |
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Plummer, from Boise, Idaho, had served in
the Japan Tokyo South Mission and is working on a Japanese minor at BYU.
Last year, he was looking for a unique internship to expand his professional
knowledge and further his experience with the Japanese people. The Japanese
Internship Program helped him to arrange his three-month internship with
Engineering System Co., located in Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan.
"It was really neat to work in Japan and to
experience the japariese work ethic. I was able to live with a Japanese
family and become a part of a Japanese company. I gained a very different
perspective compared to my mission. It was aii awesome experience," Plummer
said.
However, when he accepted the internship,
Plummer had no idea what he was really in for. His job was to fly the GEN
H-4 as much as possible and test it under different kinds of conditions.
"My trainer, Yokoyama San, explained to me
all of the controls, warned me about a few things and had me try to imagine
myself flying in the little contraption. He said that when he was teaching
himself to fly he went through four sets of blades before he learned to
control it without tipping over. He told me he was planning for me to go
through or destroy two sets of blades during my training."
Plummer was given about half an hour of training
on the
GEN H-4 before he got to try it out and said that it took about 2 hours
of practice before he could get it up and moving around.
"When I first got off the ground, it was an
awesome feeling to know that I was flying and it was powered by my own
control. It is kind of like the power of driving a car for the first time,
but it is all in 3-D instead of 2-D," Plummer said.
For those who have never flown, it is almost
impossible to imagine what that hovering sensation would feel like. Plummer
said although it was a little frightening at first, it was an incredible
feeling that almost came instinctively.
"It feels like I am sitting at the kitchen
table, riding my bicycle and floating in the air at the same time. It was
awesome," Plummer said.
Unlike most helicopters and planes, the GEN
H-4 is an ultra-light helicopter, which means a pilot's license is not
required as long as it meets a certain criteria. It must weigh less than
250 lbs. without the pilot, it cannot go any faster than 55 mph, it must
have a fuel tank no bigger than five gallons and must not carry any passengers,
Plummer said.
The Engineering System Co. had a goal to have
the first GEN H-4 out in kit form by January 2000. The kits will cost approximately
$25,000 and will take approximately 30 to 40 hours to assemble. However,
Plummer said that it may take a little more than a year to get all of the
kinks out and make it safe enough to sell to the public.
"Eventually, the company hopes that this contraption
could be used for commuting short distances and would like to design it
so that it will fold up small enough to fit inside a mini-van. In the mean
time, it is mostly for recreational use," Plummer said.
For more information about the GEN H-4, visit the Web site for Engineering
System Co. at www.engineeringsystem.cojp. |
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