Hopping in a standard-sized helicopter is intimidating enough to many people. And while the transportation method’s safety statistics have improved in recent years, those numbers generally focus on highly reinforced vehicles with the latest in navigation technology. Knowing that, no one would blame you for never taking a seat inside a Mirocopter SCH-2A.
Although it may not look like it, the SCH-2A is actually within US Federal Aviation Regulations standards for an ultralight aerial vehicle, with a five-gallon tank offering around an hour’s worth of travel at about 50 mph. The 249-lbs rig is powered by a Fiate two-cylinder, two-stroke gas engine capable of providing its rotors with over 60 horsepower at 5,800 rpm. But there’s no getting around the fact that its single occupant strapped inside the bucket seat bolted into a barebones metal frame looks… a bit exposed.
And yet that hasn’t stopped YouTuber Mark Rumsey from spending the past few months documenting his recent excursions above California in his own SCH-2A copter. In one video, Rumsey showcases a brief, 6.5-mile jaunt from La Cresta to Lake Elsinore about 28 miles east of Irvine. In another clip, the pilot managed to reach over 60 knots groundspeed, or about 70 mph.
The videos aren’t for the faint of heart, but in some ways it feels like Mirocopter makes all those other flying car companies seem lacking by comparison. For all their promises of impending aerial taxi services, the SCH-2A already allows its drivers the ability to avoid congested roadways—at least for anyone daring enough.
