Chinese Man Builds Full Size AR.Drone To Fly Around

This has to be the bravest dude on the planet, or perhaps the dumbest I can't really decide. A Chinese farmer named Shu Mansheng has designed his own flying contraption that has no wings and used eight motorcycle engines fitted with propellers inside a big metal circle that holds a basket. The design of the craft reminds me more than a little of the AR.Drone.

The round steel frame of the contraption has spokes that the motors are attached to. The engines and propellers are offset so that they can spin freely. They also have the added bonus of complete enclosing the basket-style cockpit of the craft in a spinning wall of wooden propeller death. Should things go wrong, there is no escape for Shu.

The craft measures 18-feet in diameter and Shu has already had the aircraft on its first tethered test flight. During the test, the craft hovered for ten seconds at an altitude of 3.3 feet. This is the fifth flying machine Shu has constructed. I can only imagine how unstable this will be in free flight.

[via Boingboing]