This guy might be beating you to the punch!

From the June 19 AvWebflash:

Florida Researcher Proposes Wingless Flight

An engineer at the University of Florida has unveiled a design for a "flying
saucer" that can take off vertically, hover, and fly, and it has no wings or
propeller -- it doesn't have any moving parts at all. "This is a very novel
concept, and if it's successful, it will be revolutionary," said Subrata
Roy, the ship's inventor, who applied for a patent on it last week. "If
successful, we will have an aircraft, a saucer and a helicopter all in one
embodiment." The saucer is propelled by a force called magnetohydrodynamics,
which is created when a current or a magnetic field is passed through a
fluid. By interacting with the atmosphere, the force is able to create lift
and momentum and provides stability against wind gusts. The ship's surface
is partially hollow and continuously curved, like an electromagnetic flying
bundt pan. Unfortunately, it seems the technique is likely to work better in
space, where pesky things like gravity and drag are minimized.



Roy, however, is hopeful that his creation can prove useful here on Earth.
He calls it a "wingless electromagnetic air vehicle," or WEAV, and plans to
build a six-inch-wide prototype powered by on-board batteries.

--

*H. Allen Smith*
WACO - We are all here, because we are not all there.

"Le Chaud Lapin" wrote in message
...
On Jun 19, 9:40 am, wrote:
On Jun 19, 7:26 am, wrote:

The notion of first principles, like some of the conservation laws,
seems to be lost on Le Chaud and others. He calls himself an engineer,
but seems not very familiar with Newton, or concepts like energy
density when talking about a prime mover, or. . . but why go on?
Austin has its village idiot.

Lots of guys like that. The idea that electronics can somehow
make an airplane lighter and faster and better, all at once, is just
an obsession with electronics and computers.

This same statement could be made about the application of every new
way of doing things versus the old.

How could one say whether electronics would result in overall design
improvement if one does not yet know how the electronics would be
applied?

-Le Chaud Lapin-