man builds a wooden helicopter

[Amby 490]

A Chinese farmer with only a basic school education has made his own helicopter out of wood.

Wu Zhongyuan, 20, of Luoyang, in central China's Henan province, took nearly three months to complete his home-made aircraft.

He says he used his memories of middle school physics lessons to make the machine which he claims can fly up to a height of 800 metres.

"I didn't have a design," he said. "The only source for me to get relevant knowledge was surfing the internet via my mobile phone."

The blades are made from an elm tree, the engine is from a motorcycle and the frame is reinforced with steel pipes, reports Dahe Daily.

Wu, who lives in a mountain village, said: "I had this dream from childhood of not needing to climb mountains anymore. I wanted to go to school in my own flying machine."

His father, Wu Xizhao, said his son had spent less than £1,000 on developing the helicopter which is due to make its maiden flight later this week.

"He loves machines. At one time or another, he has taken apart and put back together every gadget in the house," he said.

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_3427238.html?menu=

[almaty 19]

[NickD 203]

A Chinese farmer with only a basic school education has made his own helicopter out of wood.

Wu Zhongyuan, 20, of Luoyang, in central China's Henan province, took nearly three months to complete his home-made aircraft.

He says he used his memories of middle school physics lessons to make the machine which he claims can fly up to a height of 800 metres.

"I didn't have a design," he said. "The only source for me to get relevant knowledge was surfing the internet via my mobile phone."

The blades are made from an elm tree, the engine is from a motorcycle and the frame is reinforced with steel pipes, reports Dahe Daily.

Wu, who lives in a mountain village, said: "I had this dream from childhood of not needing to climb mountains anymore. I wanted to go to school in my own flying machine."

His father, Wu Xizhao, said his son had spent less than £1,000 on developing the helicopter which is due to make its maiden flight later this week.

"He loves machines. At one time or another, he has taken apart and put back together every gadget in the house," he said.

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_3427238.html?menu=

DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT, try that here. (here = USA)

[Bobby+Umit 161]

It will be interesting to watch the blades fracture when he attempts to adjust them for flight, while they are rotating...

[Ban Hammer 13,352]

It will be interesting to watch the blades fracture when he attempts to adjust them for flight, while they are rotating...

or he gets caught in a termite swarm.

[Nagishkaw 510]

[dalegg 143]

You laugh, but if the democrats start cutting the defense budget here....

[Saddle Bronc 124]

A real-life version of Barney-copter (from first Flintstones cartoon series episode)

[lucyrich 20]

Remember, the takeoff is the easy part. Maintaining control and bringing it down gently enough to survive is quite another feat. And every takeoff is optional, but every landing is absolutely mandatory.

It seems that many revolutionary improbable aviation advances are announced shortly before their maiden flight. Few get so much publicity afterwards.

For a whole bunch of such things from the past (mixed in with some things that actually succeeded) see

http://blog.modernmechanix.com/category/tr...ation/aviation/

[mawilson 2,133]

It will be interesting to watch the blades fracture when he attempts to adjust them for flight, while they are rotating...

or he gets caught in a termite swarm.

[NickD 203]

Remember, the takeoff is the easy part. Maintaining control and bringing it down gently enough to survive is quite another feat. And every takeoff is optional, but every landing is absolutely mandatory.

It seems that many revolutionary improbable aviation advances are announced shortly before their maiden flight. Few get so much publicity afterwards.

For a whole bunch of such things from the past (mixed in with some things that actually succeeded) see

http://blog.modernmechanix.com/category/tr...ation/aviation/

Made the comment to my wife last Sunday in a traffic jam, did the year 2000 come and go already? Why? According to those science magazines of the 50's, we should be traveling at over 300 mph!

When I first started flying could rent a fully equipped four place aircraft for seven bucks an hour and that was tach time based on cruising speeds. Today that same planes rents for 150 buck an hour with an hour meter, cost 75 bucks with warmup before you even take off. But back then I thought 7 bucks an hour was a ripoff, could buy a new plane at the same price as a car. You think health care rose in the last 30 years. Was going to the EAA show, but why bother, would either have to be a drug dealer or win the lottery.

Could have purchased one of these for $30K in kit form, but they went out of business.

So making one out of wood would be the only option. Tried to find a photo of that wooden heli in flight, really do not feel it can fly. Liability insurance is astronomical and hull insurance premiums cost more than what the plane is worth. Progress.