Late Friday evening, local Tonderay news reported the crash of a small aircraft near the Nang Cao river in the New Rubicon area, involving a single fatality. Early Monday morning, Tonderay authorities announced the identity of the pilot as well-known inventor Harlyn Malbus. No injuries were reported among passersby, and no one else was on board the aircraft during the incident.
Early image of the crashed aircraft by an onlooker, credit: Nicolas Pierquin.
Malbus made headlines two years ago when he successfully demonstrated the first flight of a human-powered quadcopter, which he dubbed a tetracycle. Making use of modern ultra-lightweight materials, and taking advantage of Ziva’s low gravity and high relative air density, the tetracycle could take flight using only power provided by the rider through bicycle-style pedals.
The tetracycle was never approved for public use by the Sabmadi Bureau of Transport, citing safety concerns.
It seems that Malbus was flying home on one of these prototype tetracycles at the time of his demise. The black box recording and radar logs indicate that the flight was going as planned, until the inventor suddenly cried out in pain, complaining that he had hit his knee on a nearby object. This temporary loss in power caused the vehicle to rapidly drop in altitude, dislodging Malbus’ legs from the pedals and dooming the aircraft.
“While this incident goes to show in practice the concerns that the Office of Transportation Regulation had,” wrote the Office’s director, “Malbus was nonetheless a talented inventor whose models have helped us create efficient inter-settlement transport at low cost. His genius is a great loss for Sabmadi.”
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