Fun fact I learned of this morning: To skirt the annoying “pilot’s license” thing that’s typically required to take a potentially deadly craft into the wild blue yonder, just build something that’s super-light and does not qualify as a plane.
That’s technically what pilot Aki Suokas did at the Aero Friedrichshafen this past week, where he revealed the ultra lightweight Fly Nano water plane. It’s a single-seat, gas-powered aircraft that’s just light enough to not qualify as an aeroplane, and therefore requires no pilot’s licence to fly in most countries around the world.
And, better still for our safe skies, the FlyNano also weighs in light on price at about $US39,000. Pretty cheap! The ceiling is 3km, but if you want to catch a glimpse of one of these diminutive airplanes you’d be better off searching the water for oil slicks, not the skies. [Born Rich]