What I did with the weed whacker last summer

Thats pretty cool. If I had some cash to burn I'd look into building one.

Mike

Hey, just wait until the guy decapitates himself and buy it from his widow. Did ya notice how often he walked underneath it with his head soooo close to the blades?

- Tim -

He built it...I assume. I imagine the noise and the wind are a pretty good reminder that there's five or six feet of whirring death above his head. People seldom walk into aircraft propellers (although it does happen). Those are nearly invisible when turning, and right in front (or behind, or beside) of you. No amount of ducking will avoid most of them.

I also noticed that he wore his helmet when anywhere near the contraption.

I tried to google the thing to get more info, but could only come up with the same video. I wonder how powerful is the engine; rotor length and material. It looks a very simple machine; but the gearing to make the contra-rotating rotors must add considerable complexity.

jak

The only difference there is, that instead of cleaning up flesh, bone and brains from the grass, you're cleaning up flesh, bone, brains AND splintered fibreglass from the grass.

Yeah, I'd wear a kevlar or steel army helmate if I were under that thing.

Mike

Per John Tserkezis:

My brother watched a ROK captain walk into the blades if an idling huey that was parked on a slope. Dunno if he was wearing a steel or FG helmet, but the guy was definitely dead.

A couple of years back at an airfield near me, a guy landed his Robbo and climbed out. His little girl came running up to him, and without thinking, he grabbed her and threw her in the air, as you do. Running-down rotor had her head right off. How nasty would that be to live with the rest of your life ...

Arfa

Forgive me, but that sounds an urban legend.

Propellars, rotary wings, jet engines, you always have to stay highly alert at all times. cuhulin

Trust me, I read it in my local rag. The airfield in question is in my county ...

Arfa

Although you've got me thinking now ... I just had a look at the local paper's archive for the last few years, and couldn't find anything. But I have this very clear memory of reading it, and also of thinking at the time how weird it was that something like this, which sounded like pure urban legend, had actually happened right on my doorstep. I have a friend who flies Robbos and Jet - Rs, and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of air accidents. I'll give him a call tomorrow and see if he remembers it. In the meantime, just assume that I'm wrong !!

Arfa

In 1982, actor, Vic Morrow was decapitated by a Helicopter's rotor blades in the Twilight Zone movie, ''The Movie'' cuhulin

He must be a lot of fun at parties.

Well, you might very well be right. Let us know what you find out.

Some years ago I discovered that some things I thought were true, or had happened, were actually dreams.

For example, I remember reading some philosopher's statement that "All systems fail by excess of their principle." Yet I've never been able to locate it. I apparently dreamed it.

If this is true (and I think it is), this type of dream-becomes-reality is probably common. I don't know if psychologists are aware of it, or if any studies have been done, but it would explain a lot of things -- such as alien abductions, etc.

PS: The Mythbusters demonstrated that a person cannot be decapitated by a ceiling fan. However, a chopper blade is not a ceiling fan.

When I was in the Army at McGregor Range, I saw a car that had its top cut off. There were some officers in that car, and parts of bodies left when I saw it. It got hit with a train or truck but I forget the details.

greg

Propellers, rotary wings, jet engines and mothers in law!

I used to play with these 90 HP toys !!

By the way, thats the same engine they started making gyrocoptors out of except the planes had no throttle, just a mixture knob. went up to 200 MPH with shrouds on. The tube receivers made a great color organ !

greg

When I was in Vietnam in 1964, my eight years older brother was a Helicopter Mechanic at Vung Tau.I remember he once said those Huey Helicopter jet engines put out about 1,750 horsepower.I was always extremly alert about all kinds of Aircraft. cuhulin