It ’s a bird ! It ’s a carpenter’s plane ! It’s … a midway - older British man in what looks to be a modified lawn chair power by oodles of toy eggbeater . Just as Orville and Wilbur Wright first proved the possibility of human flying on a beach in Kitty Hawk , North Carolina , YouTuber gasturbine101 has answer the unasked question–“Can 54 laggard rotor be assembled in such a way that they lift a sitting human being into the atmosphere for a sustained point of time?”–with a resounding yes ( disregarding the perhaps as important , though much less fun , interrogation of “ But why would you ? ” ) .
As silly as the pentacontakaitetracopter ( educe from the Hellenic words for a 54 - sided polygonal shape and “ copter , ” coin by a cleverReddit wordsmith ) setup look , it ’s a serious piece of kit . The inventor / flying tester chose 54 rotors so as to arrange them neatly along a hexangular plane ; there ’s room in the center for 6 more , but he wisely prefer to instal a polycarbonate domed stadium instead to protect his head . The dome also contributes to the aircraft ’s overall lift by “ catching some ground burden insistency rise , ” and “ also doubles as a rainwater shelter”—after all , this tryout flight did take place in England . The aircraft weigh 148 kilo or about 326 lb , but can dribble an additional 164 kilogram , or 361 pound , enough for a pilot and maybe a Quaker . Though the video shows only a few seconds of the copter in flight at a clock time , the creator claims it can make a journey of up to ten mo , putting Wilbur Wright ’s first day flight record of 59 seconds to ignominy .
Gasturbine101 allow in that there is no eminent purpose to his project , which he undertook as “ just a moment of fun for [ myself ] , never designate for micturate a important journey or wing much above head height . ” As far as backyard stunt go , this is a pretty costly one : Gasturbine101 guess the projection toll at £ 6000 , or roughly $ 10,000 . However , if that budget is n’t deterrent enough , it should explicitly be said that this is not a labor anyone should test at home . The video ’s cameraman — who can be heard at around the 2:25 mark shout out , “ Paul ! Paul , be careful!”—would in all likelihood say the same .
[ h / tThe Guardian ]
