If you ever tried your hands on any remote control aircraft, you will know picking up the skill isn’t easy. Most RC flyers, however slow they are, requires quick eye and hand coordination, and also a good sense of direction. Meaning, you should know in an instance the left and right of the aircraft regardless of its orientation with respect to you, the operator. So, for someone starting out, he or she can only watch in admiration as veterans haul big-ass RC aircrafts like the 4.95 meter (16.2 feet) Boeing 747-400 into the air. If only those giant flying toys are slower, eh? If only. Well, what do you know? As it turns out, there is. It ain’t a Boeing, though; it is an Airbus A320 and it is no less freaking huge, and best of all, it flies slow enough to be piloted indoors.
Granted, this giant RC plane is not for consumers; it is one of the many slow flyers created by Germany outfit, Airstage, and it is designed for events and ceremonies. Billed as the biggest Airbus A320 indoor flier, this enormous RC airplane’s wings spans 4.8 meters (15.7 feet) and despite its imposing size, it actually weighs a mere 350g. Yes. You heard that right. That’s well under a pound (0.77 lb), or around 12 ounces. And also, no, the dude there was no Hercules with super strength. So, super human is still a fiction at this point.
But what kind of sorcery enables a huge-ass aircraft to float effortlessly? Well, the magic lies in helium which is used to create these lighter-than-air dirigibles that, accordingly to Airstage, navigate through the air under their own power. So, yeah, the wings are mostly for show and they (the wings) also serve as the home to a pair of ducted motors to, presumably, aid in forward propulsion and directional control. And it is going to need those for maneuvering its huge-ass body in close quarters. As mentioned, you won’t be able to buy this as a consumer and so, for now, you probably have to settle for the Air Swimmers Remote Control Flying Shark (which also uses helium, btw) if you want a super slow indoor flyer. Keep going to see Airstage’s Airbus in action.
Image: Airstage.
via Gizmodo
