Country of origin:

Australia

Description:

Single-seat lift actuating disk

Power Plant:

One 224 kw (400 hp) Continental O-520 six-cylinder horizontally-opposed air-cooled engine

Specifications:

History:

Mr Duan Phillips, a retired aeronautical engineer, who previously designed the Phillips Phillicopter helicopter, has designed what has been described as a flying saucer, mis-identified as a home-built hovercraft, but which is described by the designer as a lift actuator disc.  The principle involved is said to involve the Coanda Effect, first recognised in 1800. This principle has been considered by many designers over the years, including the US military, as well as a project in 1956 by Avro (known as Project 1794) in the United Kingdom based on a flying saucer shape, and others.

With a friend Mr Phillips has built the machine at the Rutherford Airport near Maitland, west of Newcastle, NSW. Reports stated the first flight tests would commence in April 2016.  The machine is built of Kevlar and fibreglass, and was initially powered by a converted Volkswagen motor vehicle engine.  Initial testing, which included a take-off vertically in the hangar, found that the machine lacked the power to properly propel the machine forward and vertically.  Difficulties were encountered installing the engine and a crane was used later to install a 149 kw (200 hp) radial engine which had been donated to the project. Later again a 224 kw (400 hp) Continental O-520 engine was obtained for $200 and installed, this having been removed from a Beech Bonanza, together with its propeller.

Mr Phillips has stated he has spent 18 years developing the design, and “I believe my flying saucer will be a unique platform for advertising” and “there will be lights on the craft so the advertisements can be easily seen.” He has patented the design and states the saucer-shaped disc will land and take-off like a helicopter. “The flying saucer goes through the air like a Frisbee, pushed at the back by a propeller. The pilot will fly it using a joystick and rudder control similar to flying a helicopter.”  The machine was assembled in the same hanger as where the Phillicopter had been built.

The Lift Activator Disc, as it is described, is said to spin like a top and is propelled by a centrally mounted engine, air being drawn in by a blower and expelled at high pressure across the disc’s upper surface. A separate steerable tail jet would give forward thrust. The designer stated “the spinning saucer will have the neutral stability of a gyroscope and be virtually crash-proof.  Even if the engine failed, the flywheel action of the coasting disc would continue to supply sufficient lift for a safe glide back to earth.  And if it ditches in the ocean it will float.”

Applications to the Civil Aviation Authority by the designer has the machine classified in the “Experimental” category. He has stated “As for speed, I believe this will fly as fast as the engine will push it, perhaps a couple of hundred miles an hour.” “It will also fly as high as the power in the engine permits.”