Fearless Chinese Farmer Builds Working Helicopter Using Wood, Massive Cojones

Jack Loftus — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 15:00:00 +0000

When mere mortal men gaze upon the playground jungle gym, they see the unhinged tomfoolery of their youth. When Chinese farmer Wu Zhongyuan sees one he says, “I can make that fly.”

And he did, to an incredibly impressive 2,600 feet before Chinese authorities grounded him for “safety reasons.”

The rig, comprised of metal bars, a motorcycle engine and wooden rotors, cost him a mere $US1,600. He has no formal aviation schooling, and assembled the rickety beast using a recollection of middle school physics and “relevant knowledge [found while] surfing the Internet via my mobile phone.” As a blogger, I can relate. [Ananova via DVICE]

World’s Largest RC Chopper Is Big Enough For A Very Short Pilot

Dan Nosowitz — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:40:00 +0000

This RC helicopter is a scale model of a Russian Mi-24 chopper, a monstrous beast that’s 16.75m long. The scale version looks about 1/8th the size, and still scares the crap out of us. Check out the video below.

We don’t really know anything about the giant “toy” helicopter, except the model it’s based on, but the video below shows that it really works, and that we really don’t want it falling into the hands of any kids. [LiveLeak via Craziest Gadgets]

Gizmodo Australia » chopper

Fearless Chinese Farmer Builds Working Helicopter Using Wood, Massive Cojones

World’s Largest RC Chopper Is Big Enough For A Very Short Pilot