Ok folks, this video is awesome! An unknown Chinese farmer built a small airplane called the “Shanzhai Glider” out of what look like lawn mower parts!
Frankly, there is no way this guy could get a certification from the FAA for this flying death trap, but I guess it wouldn’t phase him a bit anyway. He’s obviously perfectly happy risking his life so he can buzz all his neighbors and show them how ingenious he is.
Here is another perspective of the plane from the ground.
And there is a little more info on this story here.
this man has nerves of steel, boy. there’s a part of me that’s really resistive to taking this video at face value — it is just so over the top. but it’s also pretty boring, and i guess if it were a fake the faker would have added more bells and whistles. yeah, just watched the landing and i’m not sold on this. but it’s an interesting idea, the flying lawnmower!
Yeah, I really want to see a picture of the entire thing. I don’t think it’s a fake, but I want to know what the wing and rudders and stuff look like. No way I’d get in that flying death trap… but I would like to have one of these babys:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AGcKXfTlcg
Yee-haw!
John P.
no perceptable control inputs, his feet are not on the rudder pedals. Fake… or he flys by telepathy.
Assuming that the video represents flying that did indeed occur, the creation is quite exciting, and this material gets to the root of how inventions come about. A person sees an obstacle and puts together different pieces in his mind in order to assemble an item that handles the obstacle. It would easily draw an audience as they would be wondering “how can I get to the point where I can create an item, as this person has done, to surpass an obstacle that I have?”
It looks fake to me. The background images are out of rythm with the man, he looks more real than his surroundings, which proves to be fake.
But it would be a great idea if that were true, plus I’d like a tutorial posted on the net on how to build one of those yourself, Lol! :-D
That video is too limited to prove if it is real or not. He doesn’t seem to be doing any sort of steering and isn’t using the pedals. Personally I don’t believe anyone would have the huevos to fly that thing, but if he truly did I am in awe of his stupidity.
fake or not, still better than all this election propaganda
Actually, if you look on youtube, there’s a video of the same flight but as seen form the ground… the contraption looks more like one-seater helicopter with three wheels… its actually pretty cool watching it take off =P
PEOPLE!! Watch the RELATED videos!!! They prove that this is real…
This type of aircraft is called a Gyrocopter. They have been around since 1923. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autogyro
The top rotor is spun up to provide the lift and the back facing propeller provides the thrust. The interesting thing is the engine can be shut off and it will slowly coast (autorotate) down to the ground. The top rotor is only powered during the spin up phase and the forward movement keeps it spinning. My dad was friends with a guy who made these for a living back in the 70′s.