A shocking but not surprising video has been posted to YouTube showing the Dubai police hover bike crashing while undergoing field testing in the UAE.
The video shows one of the test riders/pilots taking off and making it up to about 40 feet into the air. After a couple of seconds of flight, it’s clear the person at the controls is having difficulty controlling the machine, even taking their hands off the controls to signal to the ground crew that they were in trouble.
Moments later the machine comes plummeting downwards, landing tail-first and smashing the rear-mounted spinning rotors into the ground. With the front two rotors still spinning at high speed, the front of the machine lifts up, flipping the pilot off the machine and smashing into the ground just inches from the head of the pilot.
Protective helmet or not, the carbon fibre blades of the machine spinning at thousands of RPM wouldn’t have been fatal for the person had they made contact.
Dubai police hover bike crash footage
Thankfully, it looks as though the pilot made it out unscathed, as they quickly roll away from the crashed machine. The clip does show and ambulance on the scene shortly afterward, with crews tending to the no doubt shook up and possibly injured person.
The machine is built by Hoversurf and is claimed to be able to travel at a speed of 70kph for 25 minutes. It can either be piloted (as unsuccessfully shown here) or radio-controlled from the ground – I think that would be our preferred option!
The price should be around 150,000 euros and the Dubai Police have purchased some with a view to rolling them out on the mean streets of Dubai.
Good luck with that then…
