hi, i'm a amatuer inventor and professional bicycle mechanic of 15 years. you guys make some pretty kool stuff, but, what i have'nt seen yet are any helicopters or more precisley a human powered plane. if you had tons of scrap bicycle parts and a little enginuity you could feasibly make one that could actually fly. some helpful tips for success are that it can't weigh more than 250lbs. and needs a wing span of at least 30ft. and a 100 or more gear inches to be able to maintain a 3or 4 to 1 glide ratio. frame work could be constructed out of bicicle frame tubing of .035 thickness or smaller. thanks, reggie from florida

-- reggie harris (reggie_h_22868@yahoo.com), March 13, 2001

Answers

250lbs? Does that include the weight of the driver? I wouldn't want this challenge.

cheers,

-- Max (Maxel@inwindsor.com), March 13, 2001.

Did you catch the "Gliders" challenge last night? Three of the team running with the rope couldn't get the best effort glider off the ground. That was a big challenge for a long time among college and engineering circles, to build a human powered plane. I don't think ten hours with all unknown materials (or even with the right stuff,) is enough time to even assemble and tune such a craft.

-- Waddy Thompson (cthomp3851@aol.com), March 14, 2001.

Hey Reggie, I've always thought that a human powered, rubber band (bungie cord) assisted plane could work. You sit there and pedal up alot of twists in the cord, then power the plane down a runway and let off a clutch with the stored power as needed. Always adding to the twists in the rubber bands as you go to extend the flight.???? What do ya think?

-- Duane Flatmo, Art Attack (flatmo@humboldt1.com), March 14, 2001.

#1. Human powered plane already done. Flew across the English Channel too. #2. Human carrying "rubber band" powered plane is in the works but even so requires the ultimate in lightweight materials, just like the earlier craft.

-- Gregg Eshelman (gregg1@valint.net), March 15, 2001.

"On the fullness of wings" book about recreating deadlaus's flight from greek island to the mainland is interesting account of how to do it. Lot longer than 10 hours though.

-- Stephen A. Binion (Stephenbinion@hotmail.com), March 18, 2001.

Take a look at This Site for a human carrying rubber band powered plane. No updates to the site since last fall, but I'd love to see this thing fly!

Several years work and the ultimate in engineered lightweight materials. Not for your average junkyard junkie!

-- Michael (Canadian P. Eng.) (michael@mks-tech.com), March 19, 2001.