[eru]

You can only move so 'fast and break things', when failure can land you and your family in jail or get you killed.

That being said, the timeline is remarkably short for such a hardware project.

[danesparza]

They originally wanted to make a helicopter. (Not kidding)

[eru]

More like a ultra-light plane / helicopter hybrid or so, isn't it?

[ahartmetz]

Sounds like an autogyro, indeed one of the lightest and cheapest ways to build a plane. They are basically planes with a free-spinning helicopter rotor for lift.