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Build Your Own Flying Lawn Mower
Ant writes "Ever seen a flying lawn mower (streaming; download 5.1 MB WMV file) before? I haven't. The WMV video file description says: 'FlyingThingZ Sky Cutter .40 V2 flying at Moon Lake's Annual Make a Wish Foundation Airshow for 2004'. More information can be found on the official Web site. Seen on Blue's News. My good friend, KaT, brought up a good question: 'Since lawns (also known as grass) live usually less than 6" from the ground, how would flying help them do their job better?'"
I assumed that "flying lawnmower" meant somethinglike the ill-fated HoverMow device: a British invention, I think, that eliminated the wheels on the lawnmower by making the blades create a strong downdraft. A flexible rubber skirt retrained the air cushion, and voila! a lawnmower that moved effortlessly, even over moderately uneven terrain.
It did NOT, however, cut grass effectively, since the fan-effect tended to smush the grass down out of the way of the blades.
So I was already writing the standard Slashdot "This is old news! I know all about this already" sneer in my head when I clicked on the FA.
But then I saw this startling thing of... yes, of beauty. Fastinating. Even a lawnmower can be graceful.
I am humbled.
Oh, and Fljúgandi....ehhh....sláttuvél? also.
Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by mere idiocy.
Killjoy! I'm amazed at how well it flies. I've never seen a lawnmower do a loop in midair before.
A guy at my local flying club where I used to live had built a flying mower, although it was red, not green. Really, the thing is just very lightweight and the thrust from the prop-engine is capable of supporting the weight of the craft (ie, it could fly in a vertical position like a helicopter just fine). You'll notice that during most of the flight, the thing has a fairly high angle of attack in order to provide the lift necessary.
Actually, there was another guy (not sure if this was at the same flying club or some other place) that built a plane that looked exactly like Snoopy sitting on the top of his dog house like the Red Baron. Except, you could not tell what the lifting surface was (except for the bottom of the dog house). There were no wings sticking out or anything. It just looked like Snoopy sitting on his dog house. Pretty cool stuff.
If you look carefully, you'll notice that the body itself is an airfoil, with two horizontal control surfaces out of the back.
I'm guessing the handle plus the square dome on top (which if you notice is completely hollow) function as vertical stabilizers.
But yeah if you look at his flight, his stall angle is very close to vertical. I'd say about a 80 degree angle of attack... indicating that the engine is in fact providing most of the lift throughout flight... he's definitely doing some fancy tricks with those stabilizers to keep the lift up. When he goes into level flight is in the middle of the video when he bounces off the ground hahaha
I am disrespectful to dirt! Can you see that I am serious?!
I'm still waiting for the flying toaster.
/. challenge. First one with a working real world flying toaster gets to have his server crashed.
Ah, a
Bacardi + slashdot = negative karma.