The 9 plane plane: "not as stable as I'd hoped for, but ..."

November 27, 2018 4:22 AM

Ran D. St. Clair Flex 9 Flight: 9 foam board planes, connected by a small piece of soft foam and wired up to work as one (more details in the Ran D. St. Clair Flex 9 Explainer video) [double link YouTube]
posted by filthy light thief (7 comments total)

Watched the flight first. Then his really solid explanation. Shopping on amazon now. Damnit, I don't need another hobby.
posted by chasles at 5:01 AM on November 27, 2018 [2 favorites]

If takeoffs like that become commercial seats will need not just larger barf bags but full vacuum barf systems. But really beautiful and seems amazingly stable in flight. Now turn wings that size into optimized solar cells and it could stay up all day.
posted by sammyo at 6:06 AM on November 27, 2018 [1 favorite]

Someone reproduced it in Kerbal.
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 10:06 AM on November 27, 2018 [1 favorite]

Wow, that is pretty darn cool.
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:15 AM on November 27, 2018

turn wings that size into optimized solar cells and it could stay up all day.

It's a great idea! And is't actually been done.
posted by hat_eater at 11:02 AM on November 27, 2018 [1 favorite]

It *is* cool, but is there any reason stated except for "I wanted to try this cool thing"? Not that everything needs a practical application, but is there one?
posted by sauril at 11:43 AM on November 27, 2018

The drone chase video that it cuts to throughout is slightly vertigo-inducing but really amazing.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:04 PM on November 27, 2018