3 Apr
2005
3 Apr
'05
5:27 p.m.
Jay West wrote:
Tony wrote...
Nausicaa's Jet-powered glider from the SI-Fi movie
"Nausicaa - of the valley of the wind" seems to fit the bill.
A present-day reconstruction has a payload of only 120 lbs
as seen here: http://slashdot.org/articles/04/02/20/1537220.shtml
I am sure with all the MASSIVE amounts of computing power
you can improve the payload limit or come up with a mass reduction
program for yourself or even duplicate the far future materials used.
Massively off-topic, but I once worked with a
technician called 'Richard
Head'. Of course he objected to the obvious shortening of his name...
No kidding... one of my frat brothers was named Richard Kuntz.
On a wildly different off-topic note... This was the first day of really
nice weather this season, so I skipped out to the local airport (I
haven't flown in 10 years). Some guy there had just bought a marine
skyraider the day before and was trying it out on the ramp. Most
impressive to see the hydraulic wings unfolding. So of course I got bit
by the flying bug again, I'll have to look up an instructor and get
recertified. But to tie it in to on-topic (it's a reach), I came home
and started pondering with the wife exactly what plane I could get that
is economical to fly but has a payload weight of about 750 pounds with a
6 foot by 21 inch cargo spot....... ;) Jay West
PS. I lot of anime has intersesting
flying devices... too bad
safety regs and red tape limits what you can do for a HOME-BREW aircraft
since they have some nice designs.