The body of Bell Helicopter’s FCX-001 looks more like something we’d expect out of Elon Musk’s Hyperloop. Or maybe a stealth redesign of the Huey (also designed by Bell, wouldn’t you know). This angular, late-20th century looking chopper comes from a challenge Bell issued to its designers. The company wanted to know what people should expect the helicopter to morph into in the coming years, and what the designers came up with was a tail rotor-less, shape shifting, just-barely-not-autonomous helicopter. Tail rotor-less because a new air jet system stabilizes flight, shape shifting because the main rotors change shape depending on how the pilot needs to fly, and barely-not-autonomous because the new flight controls are a serious step in the direction of pilotless automation. What’s even cooler is, most of these design changes found inspiration in the latest Lamborghini and Ferrari designs, basically making this a flying, futuristic super car.
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Huckberry’s Essential Holiday Gift Guide
Unzip your coat and have some mulled wine on the house—you’ve arrived at your final gifting destination: The Holiday Gift Guide. It’s like your friendly neighborhood one-stop holiday shop, except instead of balsa wood ornaments, ours is packed with thoughtful gifts for everyone on your list. Future heirlooms, small-but-significant stocking stuffers, and gear for getting out there (or staying in)—are all right here. There’s no music playing in the background though, so you’ll just have to hum Bing Crosby while you click around instead.
