CRI听力:Singapore Students Build Personal Flying Machine

Joerg Weigl, who came up with the idea and is one of the supervisors of the project, said he wanted "Snowstorm" to help people realize their dreams of flying.

"Because flying is now a community. People can now fly with a jetliner, but the feeling of flying got lost on the way. So 'Snowstorm' is our multi-copter where you can get the feeling of flying back, the feeling of flying to anybody who wants to fly."

The flying machine is comprised of motors, propellers and landing gear set within a hexagonal frame and can be controlled by the person sitting in it, or remotely.

It's environmentally-friendly too, as the three rechargeable batteries get their energy from solar power.

The team said the current prototype can technically bear the load of a single person up to 70 kilograms for a flight time of about five minutes.

Team member, student Wang Yuyao admitted "Snowstorm" is still a work in progress.

"The next step is, from an electrical standpoint, it's definitely to have more fail-safes, better stability and easier control for the pilot, and from the mechanical side of the staff, it's definitely more structural stability as well as maybe even more power. We can always add more motors to lift a heavier person."

"Snowstorm" was created as part of an engineering project called FW Air: Electric Aviation, which aims to turn the fantasy of flying cars into reality.

Weigl said he could see it being commercialized some years down the road.

"As soon as you make it stable and possible as a fun activity, a fun activity is what people want and if people want this, it's a product and as soon as it's a product, it's a commercial market (product). That's very simple and it's a commercial market (product) that doesn't pollute the environment, so that is a nice thing."

The Snowstorm was Singapore's first personal flying machine, built within a year.

The world has seen a number of efforts in the area, including NASA's Puffin, a electric-powered personal concept aircraft revealed in 2010.

For CRI, this is Fei Fei.