Chinese Farmer Builds Whirling Death Machine
- Thread starter Earnest Cavalli
- Start date
If the Chinese middle school graduate can create hovercrafts (this is his fifth model) and the average American College grads can't figure out how to wipe their own asses without written instruction, it is no wonder they own us. We've got to catch up to their middle school students >_>
You have to admit, it looks pretty cheap to build. Would I choose to ride in a machine like this one if I had a perfectly good jetliner available? Absolutely not. Would I buy one of these before I bought my own private jet? Probably.
Besides, there's no reason they couldn't make that tiny box safer in later models. Take-off and landing look more dangerous than, say, a helicopter, but just give it retractable landing struts and you can make it no more or less safe than one.
In fact, it's probably safer than earlier helicopters. IIRC people were actually decapitated by helicopters fairly regularly (if rarely) until they passed a law making the blade be higher up so people of average height wouldn't need to duck around them.
In fact, landing blades-first probably makes it slightly safer than old-style helicopters for bystanders and technicians at the airport. You'd bump into the wall of the blade enclosure long before you got close enough to fall into the blades.
Of course you could probably break it by smacking it with a 2x4, but given the height malfunctioning aircraft would typically fall from, a sturdy cockpit just makes it easier to maintain and store, it has no effect on the safety of the vehicle once it's aloft.
He's definitely going to need some sort of wind protection though if he actually takes it up.
This is basically a weird solution to the weight-to-thrust-ratio problem. If you make a flying machine out of paper and twigs, you don't even need one motorcycle engine to keep it aloft, just a windy day. (Kite.) Most of the weight comes from the passenger, and the engines. (guessing the blades are lightweight.)
Instead of mocking the dangerousness of this guy's invention (considering that the dangerousness is an unavoidable side-effect of keeping it lightweight and cheap to build,) we should be thinking about what top-tier technologists and engineers could do by following this path. Sure, right now that cloth box is a death-trap waiting to happen, but if you had carbon nanotube materials to work with, you could build a much sturdier cockpit that would also block the wind.
Besides, there's no reason they couldn't make that tiny box safer in later models. Take-off and landing look more dangerous than, say, a helicopter, but just give it retractable landing struts and you can make it no more or less safe than one.
In fact, it's probably safer than earlier helicopters. IIRC people were actually decapitated by helicopters fairly regularly (if rarely) until they passed a law making the blade be higher up so people of average height wouldn't need to duck around them.
In fact, landing blades-first probably makes it slightly safer than old-style helicopters for bystanders and technicians at the airport. You'd bump into the wall of the blade enclosure long before you got close enough to fall into the blades.
Of course you could probably break it by smacking it with a 2x4, but given the height malfunctioning aircraft would typically fall from, a sturdy cockpit just makes it easier to maintain and store, it has no effect on the safety of the vehicle once it's aloft.
He's definitely going to need some sort of wind protection though if he actually takes it up.
This is basically a weird solution to the weight-to-thrust-ratio problem. If you make a flying machine out of paper and twigs, you don't even need one motorcycle engine to keep it aloft, just a windy day. (Kite.) Most of the weight comes from the passenger, and the engines. (guessing the blades are lightweight.)
Instead of mocking the dangerousness of this guy's invention (considering that the dangerousness is an unavoidable side-effect of keeping it lightweight and cheap to build,) we should be thinking about what top-tier technologists and engineers could do by following this path. Sure, right now that cloth box is a death-trap waiting to happen, but if you had carbon nanotube materials to work with, you could build a much sturdier cockpit that would also block the wind.
This isnt a new invention or idea. This has been done before when the idea of VTOL systems first came into practice. It was deemed unusable because of its weight and the sheer impracticality of its design.
However, credit to the guy for making it, i have plenty of time for people who make random mechanical devices simply because they can. Wish him all the luck in the world.
However, credit to the guy for making it, i have plenty of time for people who make random mechanical devices simply because they can. Wish him all the luck in the world.
So, how is his invention more dangerous than any other form of "Flight"?
It may be "impractical" from a military standpoint, but it works for civilian use. Sure, it may "seem" dangerous, but only if he doesn't pay attention to where he's going.
Is it really more dangerous than the metal, glass, an plastic boxes weighing anywhere from half a ton to over eight tons we send hurling along pavement at speeds ranging from thirty-five to in excess of eighty miles per hour?
It may be "impractical" from a military standpoint, but it works for civilian use. Sure, it may "seem" dangerous, but only if he doesn't pay attention to where he's going.
Is it really more dangerous than the metal, glass, an plastic boxes weighing anywhere from half a ton to over eight tons we send hurling along pavement at speeds ranging from thirty-five to in excess of eighty miles per hour?
Well, now we know who Tony Stark will be fighting in the next 10 years.
I wonder if his death-mower comes in manual transmission...
I wonder if his death-mower comes in manual transmission...
