China: Awesome gentleman builds homemade flying contraption powered by eight motorcycle engines

Local farmer Shu Mansheng starts the engines of his self-designed and homemade flying device before a test flight in front of his house in Dashu village on the outskirts of Wuhan, Hubei province September 21, 2011. The round steel flying device, which cost more than 20,000 yuan ($3,135), is the fifth model made by Shu, a junior middle school graduate. It measures around 5.5 meters (18 feet) in diameter, and is powered by eight motorcycle engines. Shu managed to hover for 10 seconds at about 1 metre (3.3 feet) above ground during a recent test flight. (REUTERS/Stringer)

Above, in August, he set up a propeller on the motorcycle engine of his self-designed and made flying device before the first test flight in front of his house. (REUTERS/Jason Lee)

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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jnordb

What could possibly go wrong?
jarmstrong

Never get out of the box. Absolutely goddamn right.
http://www.geekforce.com Hugh Johnson

I have to admire the proper use of zipties.
Guest

What…no spectators?
http://twitter.com/pianoarthur arthurschwartz

You’d be able to hear that contraption coming from a mile away.
Anybody know what the banner on it says?
- Aamir Poonawala
  
  @arthurschwartz: The banner reads 中国“太空”学校, which means China “Outer Space” School.
  - ROSSINDETROIT
    
    I was just going to ask if that was his last will and testament written around the circumference.
  - Guest
    
    Zhong guo taikong xuexiao…
    
    ?!
- http://twitter.com/ohfuckinreally awhellno
  
  Chinese “Space” University
- Freeman Lin
  
  it says, china “space” academy
jimh

It practically steers itself!
When untethered, I predict a disastrously viral video…
matt H

but does it blend?

god, i’m so hilarious.
- http://twitter.com/pianoarthur arthurschwartz
  
  Aero-Cuisanart Pro
- http://www.facebook.com/chello2k12 Parris Adams
  
  The “god, i’m so hilarious” puts it over the top
  - matt H
    
    in a good way?
    
    on a side note, I actually lived in Wuhan four years ago, and though I never met this guy, I did see some pretty interesting contraptions that had obviously been pulled together from who-knows-how-many other vehicles/stuff.
    
    The frame for this guy’s contraption looks suspiciously like the scaffolding on the signs I remember, an example of which you can see over his shoulder in the second picture.
ROSSINDETROIT

What is going on in China on the farms? Didn’t some Chinese farmer recently make a humanoid robot from scratch? Who’s doing all the farming while these guys make androids and aircraft?
zombienietzsche

His design has been done before, it is still rather neat though.
- http://www.youtube.com/user/PipLagenta Pip_R_Lagenta
  
  “His design has been done before…” Done before? It’s probably Heathkit!
http://orbitnet.com JIMWICh

Awesome gentleman indeed!

His delightful contraption is completely enrobed in awesome sauce and topped with colorful danger sprinkles!

Onward and upward, good sir!
mrclamo

@ROSS- If only their respective farms were closer together–then we’d be talking FLYING ROBOTS!
jnordb

judging by all the two stroke exhaust pipes, I’m guessing that thing rains down smoke from above like an upside down volcano….
pjcamp

Obviously, “middle school graduate” does not mean what I think it means.
http://dougsamu.wordpress.com doug rogers

Only $3,000? Crap. My first Macintosh SE cost that much.
ROSSINDETROIT

If you told me there was a man in China sitting in a fabric box surrounded by 8 spinning blades a yard long I’d probably think “That’s harsh. Who did he murder?”
travtastic

Wait, then what the hell did I go to high school for?
Big Fez

I like that two pool tables are being used to tether it in the foreground.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1360208873 Bill Lee
  
  Actually they are two halfs of one pool table top. Notice that each only have 2 slots for the baskets.
lavardera

8 motorcycle engines full throttle in that courtyard. I think he might wake his neighbors.
lavardera

In case nobody noticed, he’s probably also sitting on top of the gas tank.

How do you say MacGyver in Chinese?
- Jeff Swanson
  
  MacGyver in Chinese. Sorry, couldn’t resist.
narddogz

Multi rotor helicopters are quite feasible aircraft, at least currently on a RC scale. But to be safe / useful they require a CPU running complex calculations using several active gyroscopes to precisely control the speed of each prop. Can a human substitute for all of this? This guy just may find out.

I’m just afraid this guy has just made a LOLcopter and may lose his designation as “awesome” when he kills himself and/or his neighbors.
gellfex

I would say that at the least he needs a roll cage, seatbelt and deadman cutoff switch to avoid a Darwin Award.
kartwaffles

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle (-Engine Powered Aircraft) Maintenance.
ROSSINDETROIT

Steel is an interesting choice of material, if that’s actually what he used (I didn’t click through for details). It’s easy to assemble with basic welding skills. But it’s heavy, and the framework is by far the majority of the weight there. Aluminum is lighter, but the welding is far trickier. Bolted aluminum structures have their own challenges.
obeyken

That thing would be perfect for an opening scene from Six Feet Under
http://twitter.com/criminalcrafts Miss Demeanor

hell yes!
Birdseed

How come no-one has mentioned the most important thing, namely that he looks fucking hot in that dusty leather jacket and those shades?
- Guest
  
  Uh, yeah, he does look hot. lol
  
  hen shuai le… :!
  
  kind of like Indiana Jones…. yeah.
- Sebastion Wires
  
  That’s not a leather jacket, its just heavy cloth. You can tell by the seams- the look like the ones you see on a pair of jeans, because the cloth shrinks a bit. Also, I think he’d buy a pair of real shoes before investing in a leather jacket; welding in sandles has got to suck.
  
  Which doesn’t change the fact that he’s got a classic square jaw and perfect hair, like the best sort of stereotypical American 1950′s can-do-man. Such a man can make a cheap dirty canvas jacket look good!
professor

It’s definitely a ROFLCOPTER (Ride-On Flying Lawnmower Copter)! He’s a farmer so maybe he’s planning some EPIC crop-circles…
elliott mariess

waiting for the video of this to appear on fail blog…
http://profiles.google.com/westcarleton Ray Perkins

“Does it blend?”
ocatagon

This is the kind of idiocy that used to make America great (unlike the idiocy of today that makes us rather lame). I can hear Duane Eddy in the background.

And for some reason I’m reminded of “The World’s Fastest Indian” with Anthony Hopkins.
- ROSSINDETROIT
  
  If you want to see a lot of people engaged in creative fooling around check out Make magazine’s blog. There still are Americans inventing and experimenting. Instead of trying to figure out how to control an aircraft on a North Carolina beach they’re working out how to control a robot with an Xbox Kinect.
garyg2

Some people will do anything to get to Maker Faire…
leoeris

This thing is deadly. Don’t try this at home. I have seen what happens to someone hit by one of those rc helicopter blades.
awjt

No, that’s a Shu Shredder.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=730182493 Ben Goldberg

Obviously this guy spent a lot of time reading the ads in the back of “Boys Life” magazine when he was a child…
oandroido

Fake.

Or, show it to me flying. Otherwise, it’s a hovercraft.
SignalJammer

Tool steels have strength-to-weight ratios as forged Al. I evidence this by noting that good bicycles are made from both materials.
SignalJammer

Read: “Tool steels have strength-to-weight ratios as forged Al.” as Tool steels have similar strength-to-weight ratios as forged Al.
Haven’t had coffee yet.
http://www.jimdraws.com Thorzdad

I’m not sure it’s accurate to call this tethered test a “flight”. It’s more accurately “probable carnage avoided by tethering”.
http://profiles.google.com/depush D Push

… all of the outer engines rotate one way, the inner engines the other … its an attempt to null the rotational effect. I suspect it would be better had 2 engines in each ring countered 2 in the same ring because of the leverage differential of the forces in each circumference. You can see in the hovering pic that the ropes are keeping the craft from rotating.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_I34MUJUCDHH6JRS4J4RATKOYHY Robert

Well, having built many flying craft over the years (models), let me say, first: he cannot reach the outer engines to start them (take a look), the noise and smoke from the many 2 stroke engines will overcome him and any spectators for 100 yards, and…. when (not if) one of the engines quits, you are in for a death spiral of amazing tragic results. The power is probably there to make it fly, but I really question the stability of the craft, let alone critical control issues; unless he only plans to go up, and down… still, wobble city / whirling disaster here….You could not talk me into trying to fly this thing….even with Remote radio Control….Is there a film crew there to catch this Jackass? He is going down….big time…
- http://www.facebook.com/spacestationmax Max Vogel
  
  redundantcy man its got 8 engines . if 4 can support him hes all good
http://twitter.com/ablestmage ablestmage

Video or it didn’t happen.
public bizmail

our modern world in a nutshell: China does stuff, but most of the value-add is elsewhere

A Chinese gentleman works out how manufacture a hovercraft on the cheap, but his design will be useless until someone else with a lot more math skills develops the control software and imports the high-quality actuators from Japan or Germany.Any chance we can get this amazing dude to a Maker Faire?
http://www.facebook.com/people/Sparg-Otyebat/1818893984 Sparg Otyebat

Awesome crop duster!
http://www.facebook.com/cuiqianc Cuiqian Chen

Cao Ni Ma Niu Bi!!
rcflying

That’s awesome. I want to see video!
ausPPC

Check out the american imperialist condescension. My guess is that if this guy was from the ‘right’ country the comments would be much more along the lines of how cool makers are. Engineering, motivation and the joy of doing aren’t endemic of america – or do you idiots think you’ve patented those things as your exclusive property?
Ar D Karriban

This is it a classic referendum for one family one child policy : no darling, go tooling.
airshowfan

Paul Moller better watch out; China’s ability to make useless VTOL vehicles almost matches his own.
- cdh1971
  
  Ha Ha Ha…this.
  
  However – this dude might beat Moller to the finish in terms of Return on Investment of time and money. This dude’s current contraption is likely in the alpha stage. His beta (or whatever) might use cheap microprocessors that Moller didn’t have access to until, well…now.
  
  But if Moller didn’t do it first – and grace decades worth of Popular Science and Mechanics mags – would this have been hatched and built?
  - Bob Bobson
    
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_8080 priced at $360 in 1974…
    
    Zilog Z80′s could be had for 3-4 US by the end of the 1970′s…
    
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moller_Skycar
    
    I have the feeling he’s just wasting money building ‘pretty’ prototypes…
  - Bob Bobson
    
    I should have said “wasted” instead of “wasting” as I doubt anyone would invest with Moller anymore… However, stranger things have happened… This octocopter could benefit from variable pitch props, and a torque distribution system… but that might kill the cost effectiveness of the whole thing.
orcasislandtv

Before criticizing, build one. The trouble with innovation in the US, is that it rarely gets done. Innovation is full of lawyers, patents, injunctions, for using a bit of software that is as common as a ball bearing.

Innovators are eaten and become part of the borg.

I love the audacity here, the sheer chance. Lookup Octokopter. The models have been built and proven. This is just a step toward manned flight on an Zoctokopter. Imagine 8 rotax engines, and a simple arduino controller yanked from the existing Octokopter design.

It flys. Throttle controls via servos, and horizon stabilization is $50. It’s time, about 40 years overdue, for air innovation for people. Sure, it won’t be stealthy. :) I can see millions of these, running on diesel grown in unused farm lands flying all over china.

If anyone will build the future it’s China. It’s where GE, and our top big businesses are spending their money. And, we consumers spend much of our money on Chinese products everyday. Try to buy a tool made in the US. :) nah best to read the map, accept it, and decide if you have the courage to innovate in the US. We owe China trillions. And we buy 100s of billions from China too. It’s not cheap goods. Check a US name brand product.

Wake up fools. Where ya been the past ten years? :) bet 3 years from now Chinese flying machines will be kicking butt. Likely because a farmer in China can now make one. Who in the US can? Have $100,000 to start and $200,000 for lawyers? Try farming in China, apparently the opportunities are greater.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_JQBPPYLTF4DIOYRLMFHJ34TJXU MikeyintheOC

Parking might be a bitch?
http://www.facebook.com/people/James-Dhalluin/100002227900133 James Dhalluin

Just maybe, they may sit around and think rather than smoke..A clear mind can work and think at the same time..Ideas come togeather quite easy behind the plow.
Editz

Clearly a descendent of Wan Hu:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wan_Hu
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_I34MUJUCDHH6JRS4J4RATKOYHY Robert

I see no obvious control devices, (in one picture, pilot (?) seems to just be hanging on to the side of the cloth box) and no fuel tank. I think he could kill himself just as easily with 1/2 the numbers of engines. Nice wood work on   the propellers, however…   It appears   (?) that some of the propellers
    look like they are cut to turn in opposite directions. That is a good thing, (if so), as there is going to be one hell of a torque control problem
   with this “”death circle”", and this is just one of the many control, stability issues he will face. But, alas, not for long, especially with no
safety helmet…
Will Radik

太危险了!