Related Sections: Art & Design Vehicles
Chinese MacGyver builds working helicopter out of wood
20 year old Chinese farmer Wu Zhongyuan built himself a helicopter using only — according to the man — what he remembers of middle school physics lessons and "relevant knowledge [found while] surfing the Internet via my mobile phone."
Well, sure looks like things worked out. His single-seater conveyance has blades made from the wood of an Elm tree, a frame reinforced with steel pipes and uses an engine from a motorcycle — all for around $1,600. Wu claims the 'copter can get him as high as 2,600 feet, though it seems he's grounded for the time being as the Chinese government has forbid him to fly because of safety reasons.
Wu, whose father pegs him as a gadget lover who would always take things apart, says that he "had this dream from childhood of not needing to climb mountains anymore. I wanted to go to school in my own flying machine."
Ananova, via Auto Motto
By GermanCrazyGoat at 1:13 AM ON 08/07/09
kinda has a scavenger aspect to it huh? Stupid gov'na always stopping u from doing fun things!
By edward at 9:43 AM ON 08/07/09
This definitely a major science breakthrough if a helicopter could really be made using USD1,600.-
By nfo at 4:07 PM ON 08/07/09
this is not a helicopter... this is an engine on a pile of sticks. No control surface, the CG is all wrong, he'd be lucky if this thing got off the ground using ground effect.
I'm not surprised that you can build a pile of sticks for 1600$
By Nidia at 7:02 PM ON 08/07/09
I LOVE IT!! Govt. needs to let him fly it, bunch of dream killers! lol
By Joel at 2:43 PM ON 08/08/09
Video. Or I don't believe it flies. ;)
By Farkchan at 9:31 PM ON 08/08/09
Yeah, tits or GTFO.
By poetryrocksalot at 6:06 AM ON 08/09/09
Now that's what I call a redneck contraption!
By Kashem at 1:22 PM ON 08/09/09
That does not look like it can go very high. I'd like to see some video on this thing. If he did indeed create this helicopter, why hasn't some company already snatched this guy up. http://ziggytek.com/
By dr_gonzo at 4:08 AM ON 08/10/09
Steel frame : heavy
Power to weight ration of a bike engine, would be a nice example of "fail", except maybe if there was a Hayabusha turbo , which doesn't look like it.
small rotor : lift? what kind of revs required?
Those blades look pretty flat, so where does the lift come from?
wooden blades won't take the weight and stress required to lift a heavy steel frame.. I'm sure we could guestimate the rotor speed from the picture... guess what the shutter speed would be in those lighting conditions, then work out the distance travelled by the blades in that time (can see it)... And presto rotor speed ... It looks to be kinda very low for a chopper...
weight balance : i don't see how that thing could even be held stable at a 1ft hover, let alone fly 2600 ft high
In other words, BS foto journalist saw something funny, made a picture, and embellished the story a bit with so called claims of 2600 ft capability, and supposedly chinese govt forbidding it from flying....
That thing won't even lift one bit off the ground , it fails on all of the parameters required for flight
By o-flyer at 11:31 AM ON 08/25/09
"...the 'copter can get him as high as 2,600 feet..." I have no doubt in my mind that the guy lives on a mountain and the elevation is.... 2600 feet. :-/
By rooney at 4:48 AM ON 09/07/09
@Dr_Gonzo
You could never accurately guess the shutter speed, even if we could we don't know if the blades are travelling at full speed.
By AlphaRap at 10:21 PM ON 09/15/09
Macgyver would be proud...though his bamboo ultralight didn't hold up when it was truly tested for real.
on your cellphone!
Text DVICE to 72434
editor@dvice.com
AlphaRap:
Macgyver would be proud...though his bamboo ultralight didn't hold up when it was truly tested for real. ...More »