By David Ponce

I’m looking at this thing, and I’m thinking you really gotta have some sort of sick death wish to even think about getting onboard. It’s a helicopter designed to fit one person. It’s also a flying death basket.

This lovely death basket from Japanese corporation GEN is equipped with a miniature engine of 125cc (8 horse power) and two propellers. With this, it can reach a flying speed of 90 km (56 miles) per hour. The double counterrotating helix design allows it to do without a rear rotor.

Work commute for adrenaline junkies, perhaps?

It sells for 3.6M yen, which is about $31,000. There is even a wonderful video of it in action, right here.

Story VIA Odd Things From Japan.

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32 COMMENTS

  1. Mini-heli

    We hebben ze wel eens eerder gezien, maar deze mini-heli werkt ook echt [ filmpje ] en is voor slechts 31.000 dollar te koop. GEN is de fabrikant, maar helaas is de website ook alleen in het Japans. Met acht…

  3. Gen H-4 Personal Helicopter

    Wear a nice skirt when flying this thing. There is a good chance that this crazy contraption could cost you your life, so remember to dress your best when this thing plunges into the dirt. The H-4 runs on a…

  4. Gadget Garden: that didn’t add anything just translation in Dutch and that’s only handy for people in NL who don’t read English, so nearly no one, and if you are unable to read English you have no reason to be on the internet!

  7. >> if you are unable to read English you have no reason to be on the internet

    What a ridiculous point of view! Why encourage homogenization? What a dull world this would be if everybody thought like you.

  11. This is the future.
    The engine is probably/should be a Honda never-fail gas engine, so why worry. I bet this helicopter will have a satisfactory survival rate overall.

  12. This rocks…. and ppl who dont speak english shouldnt be allowed on anything never mind the internet… dumb asses….. i mean how hard is english…i want a helicopter..

  13. steveo, due to people like you, asshole! Exist the ignorance in the world, variety is the key of the development. Or you prefer to be a Clon? You probably will get a high position in Mr.G.Bush Circus.

  15. >
    What an uneducated racial remark, He forgets that there are more then 50 % of people on the internet that do not speak english. He has the attitude of a Frenchman who refuse to speak English because they claim that French is the Global language.
    I speak 5 languages including Dutch, a pity you did not go to school in Holland.

  18. I is speaking perfectly england…….hmmm I thought these comments are supposed to be about the copter?? A very nice toy, and wouldnt be a death trap if it had a backup chute due to any mechanical failure. I is am wanting one!

  19. What netto mass does this thing have? Why are other personal helis at least 150 kilogramms? I am sure this one is less than half of that.

  21. Since it involves risking your life, you would think someone would here would be smart enough to do a little research before spouting off. That didn’t happen, so I did it for you.

    Conclusion: This is a dangerous toy and should be outlawed. The makers are not allowed to test the safety chute, nor do real forward flight (at speed) in Japan because both activities are AGAINST THE LAW in Japan. I have new respect for the Japanese government.

    FAQ:
    Q: Why is it dangerous?

    A#1: All engines quit sooner or later, especially the two stroke engine type used in the H2. No one has yet invented a “no quit” engine. In addition, these engines (it uses 4 engines, not one) are not certified for aircraft use.

    A#2: It’s rotors are fixed pitch therefore it can only climb as the engine rpm slowly increases. If (read when) the drive system fails, it drops like a rock. That’s why it’s only demo’d with a very skinny and light pilot. A real person has no margin of safety when a downdraft hits, or a power line is spotted at the last minute. If it’s warm out, it even has less lifting ability.

    A#3. There is no dual seat trainer. People who train solo in any rotary or other aircraft are considered suicidal by the aircraft industry since most (yes it’s true) will crash.

    Q: If it has 4 engines, why must I be concerned if one should quit, after all, it can still fly on 3, and land on 2.

    A: Once an engine quits, the remaining engines run hotter. This causes the unreliable two stroke engines to overheat and likely quit suddenly as well. The only way to prevent this is to immediately put larger jets in the carburetors of the remaining 3 engines while flying (impossible to do).

    Q: Has the emergency parachute been tested by the manufacturer?

    A: NO. However, they are asking dealers/buyers to test it for them! Do you want to buy something from a company that places so little value on your life?

    Q: Why should we listen to you?

    A: Because I care and am a student helicopter pilot with 21 hours of flight time.

    Q: Is that all the reasons it’s dangerous?

    A: No, it’s just a start. Read about the experience of those people who bought a kit called the Mini-500 that also used a two stroke engine against the wishes of the engine manufacturer (Rotax engine made by Bombardier). Just Google “Death by Mini-500” and do some reading.

    Good Luck.

  23. EVOLUTION IS A FARCE! How could something that is NOTHING do anything!? Duh! It’s a no-brainer?that doesn’t even have a brain! EVOLUTION HAS NEITHER SUBSTANCE, PERSON, PRESENCE, STRUCTURE, MOTIVE NOR ANY PERCEIVABLE QUALITY!

    To buy into that one, you have to be either some kind of grotesque, stellar-stupid or utterly desperate to get out of church. I’m leaning toward the latter. I’ll the first to admit that priests have proven to be child-molesting liars and shameless, greedy thieves but that fact does not disprove the existence of God. People have no excuse for believing their lies en masse ? but that’s another discussion. Back to the point?

    There are 12 tones in music (repeated several times to form a piano keyboard or guitar fretboard) and a *trained* musician can usually play no more than 8 (66%) of them (in a diminished scale) at any given time before it, subjectively, sounds bad. I HAVE NEVER HEARD ANY BIRD SING OFF-KEY, not even once, EVER! Have you? Birds go on and on and on and it ALWAYS SOUNDS GOOD ? or at least interesting ? but never a sour note!

    Are bird songs the result of random note selection? It would have to, according to the preposterous theory that you hold so dear (because it has relieved you of the burden of morality, self-denial and self-control). To say that bird songs were “perfected over millions of years” (blah, blah, blah) and are no longer changing, would imply that “random, natural selection” has CEASED to operate as a force in the lives of birds. Something evolution cannot do BECAUSE IT DOES NOT EXIST! DAMN! Why is it so hard to accept something that is so obvious?!

    In accord with that TOTALLY BOGUS THEORY of Evolution, bird songs (along with *every* other aspect of *every* other living thing) should ALWAYS be in flux. This would necessarily require that an appreciable portion of birdsong note selection end up perhaps working for a given species of bird but sounding “off-key” to humans.

    Do birds *need* their songs to sound good to members of a species with which they cannot mate? Why? Is on-key note selection a fixed default? How? How could *any* bird possibly arrange it, much less *all* of them? Granted, the parrot and a very few other birds can mimic sounds, but such birds are comparatively few and even so, the ability to make any kind of sound has got to have little (if any) value as a survival skill to an animal whose primary survival mechanism would have to be winged flight.

    Now I know you’ve been trained to twist ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING into survival terms and therefore it’s incumbent upon you to make something up. You may even be able to cite one flawed example which I’ll pick apart later, but I just thought I ‘d put it out there to see what you’ll say. Ok faithful followers of the Church of Evolution, get to work? and remember, ridicule is not evidence! 🙂

  25. I am a young man aged 24,a citizen of Botswana.please help me to buy the gen h4 in a pre-assembled state.i need the price of gen h4 and tools.please help me to be the first guy to use this helicopter in Botswana.

    p.o.box Mogoditshane
    Botswana.

    THANKING YOU IN ADVANCE.

    REGARDS OSCAR.

  28. The old adage:
    What do you call someone who speaks two languages?
    Bilingual.
    What do you call someone who speaks three languages?
    Trilingual.
    What do you call someone who speaks only one language?
    American

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