this post was submitted on 07 Jan 2026
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what exactly keeps this thing from flipping over?
The weight of the pilot's balls acts as an efficient inertial stabilizer.
he must have https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eckoYQqdk28
This stuff is pretty much over my head, but if I understand correctly, the fact that the pilot's feet (and body weight) aligned with the main thrusting mechanism (right under their feet) created a kind of advantageous situation not unlike a Segway, perhaps. Evidently it could make quick adjustments to its thrust patterns to prevent tipping, and in fact (again, like the Segway) actually used the pilots bodily leanings to steer in the desired direction.
Of course, most important of all is that it was nicknamed the Flying Pulpit!
https://www.jetsprops.com/prototype/sky-high-dreams-and-grounded-realities-the-tale-of-the-x-jet.html
Found the patent which has diagrams of the inside https://patents.google.com/patent/US4447024
Oh, yes, I see, it's just a box with a jet turbine between your legs. No crash safety, and not much room for heat shielding so that must be fun after about 5 minutes.
So... the only real control is rotation (yaw). If a stiff breeze starts to tilt you over, there's no way to recover.
I think the turbine acts like a gyroscope, so it wants to remain vertical.
Then mrsemi makes a good argument too.
You hope. There's no control surfaces, and only the downward-pointed engine nozzle, so if it starts to tip over from a gust of wind or something there is no way to reorient it. There's also no crash safety.
Its a gyroscope - the forces so long as its running are rather powerful.
A "gust of wind" would have to be powerful enough to overcome those forces. I'm just guessing, but I suspect we're talking hurricane speeds.
Jet engines routinely rotate at many thousands of rpm, and basic force calculations show that speed/velocity are the single greatest energy/force metric as it's influence is a squaring function - V is always represented as V^2 in these formulas.
Its why safety commercials for driving always say "Speed Kills" - mass doesn't change and yet total energy in the system doubles with each single-unit increase in speed.
My point is that there's a helluva lot of gyroscopic stability so long as that engine is spinning. I'd be more concerned about loss of that stability and lift than an outside force pushing it around.