
Test flight held for small jet modeled after Miyazaki anime - sjreese
http://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20160805/p2a/00m/0na/013000c
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paganel
I thought it was going to be named after "Porco Rosso"
([http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=85...](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=855)),
to be honest. Talking about "Porco Rosso", I got to briefly visit Trieste for
the first time ever this summer, Miyazaki and his fellow animators really did
a very good job of portraying everything about the city, from the beautiful
light to the Austro-Hungarian buildings from downtown. I had only seen the
movie once, about 10 years ago, but I had a strong deja-vu feeling as I was
visiting the Trieste waterfront, from where the first ever commercial Italian
airplane took off in the early '20s.

~~~
ionwake
Did you know the hotel, in the water, is based on a real world location? I
once came across a real life photo of it, with a note about it being used as a
reference for the film, but never came across it again - do you have any ideas
where it was ?

~~~
puzzlingcaptcha
Some googling suggests it could be
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isola_Bella_(Lago_Maggiore)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isola_Bella_\(Lago_Maggiore\))

[https://www.flickr.com/photos/jdbfhr/5521339431/](https://www.flickr.com/photos/jdbfhr/5521339431/)

~~~
ionwake
Thanks for taking a good look, I guess it could be the location, but I
honestly remember a smaller island, on a lake, with a hotel on it in the
photograph. Maybe it was from a different angle? After all how many lakes in
Italy have hotels in them?

Thanks again for trying.

~~~
puzzlingcaptcha
My runner up is the islet of San Giovanni on the same lake:
[http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/122043835.jpg](http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/122043835.jpg)
(which is also mentioned in
[http://www.davinotti.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=v...](http://www.davinotti.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=329)).
In reality it was probably an amalgamate of several reference locations.

~~~
ionwake
This is it! Thank you =]

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philbarr
And it does look like the anime version:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zhLBe319KE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zhLBe319KE)

About 35 seconds in.

~~~
JulianMorrison
A lot like, except it can't VTOL but it certainly takes off and lands on very
little runway. And except you can't stand up on it, but standing up on an
aircraft that's already pitch-unstable sounds like a recipe for a faceplant.

~~~
ionwake
It is a shame VTOL is not incorporated, I can't help thinking it would be
pretty easy to add what with available cheap multirotor stabilisation tech...
the more I think about it, the more possible it is, and safer.

~~~
justifier
i always loved the attention to detail on display in the vertical take off in
the film

a little foot pedal can be raised and with a swift impression the aircraft
gets a downward burst that sends it about 2 or 3 meters straight up and then
the engine propels it forward:
[https://youtu.be/tdAtYXzcZWE?t=27](https://youtu.be/tdAtYXzcZWE?t=27)

there is another launch where they just fall out of a larger already moving
flying machine.. unable to find a clip online but it's about at an hour and 28
minutes into the film

another awesome launch is when back home in the valley of the wind the glider
is hooked up to a slingshot that throws the glider without using any fuel up
into the air where the pilot then activates the engine.. unable to find a clip
online but it's about at 22 minutes into the film

and another where the pilot runs the glider off a cliff and then flips up on
top before launching to speed.. unable to find a clip online but it's about at
15 minutes into the film

as for landing, i'd hardly say vertical, mostly just a short runway

i love this style of landing shown early on, where the pilot flips under the
glider and glides low enough to run off the glider:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRZ5JalHjhs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRZ5JalHjhs)

this is a remarkably creative, brilliant and beautiful film

a rare post apocalyptic vision, both socially and environmentally, that
retains beauty and hope

i highly recommend it to everyone

~~~
JulianMorrison
The bit where they get the detail wrong is: the VTOL generates a puff of air
about the diameter of the wings, once. What it would actually need to generate
is a huge blast on the order of a helicopter lifting off, continuously at
least for the first few seconds. A single blast would leave it plummeting and
it would need to pull some harsh gees to get up past stalling speed before it
made a splat on the ground. Looking at the animation, maybe it was doing
exactly that - but how did her arms not snap off?

Possible methodology:

\- Explosive single VTOL blast.

\- Plummeting with the jet throttled to max.

\- Wing-in-ground effect lowers effective stall speed so acceleration can
proceed skimming inches over the ground.

\- Up to speed and lifting away from the ground to full flight.

It sounds crudely plausible, but terrifying and not something to do without
mad skills.

~~~
justifier
miyazaki often subverts physics for aethetics

if you are responding to my mention of attention to detail

i was merely referring to the little foot pedal that pops up for the vert take
off

unnecessary for the universe it inhabits and extra work for the animators, but
a fun detail for viewers

~~~
ionwake
ah no but don't you both see? A key component of the craft is that it is a
glider, in most if not all scenes there is the clear presence of extremely
strong wind, which would keep it held in the air - and not just for a few
seconds! Look at the landing clip for example, where she hangs off it and the
clear indication of strong wind. All that was required was the sudden VTOL
blast to get the wing into the air current so it could generate lift.

I hope we can all settle on this explanation and agree they are visionaries.
;)

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hevyw8
Looks like this has been an ongoing project for a while.

[http://en.rocketnews24.com/2013/08/06/real-life-nausiccas-
mo...](http://en.rocketnews24.com/2013/08/06/real-life-nausiccas-mowe-glider-
makes-first-powered-flight/)

~~~
Washuu
It has been going since before YouTube was created. I remember downloading the
.MOV files from their web site back in 2003. PetWORKs is the company/creative
group behind the project.

[http://www.petworks.co.jp/~hachiya/opensky/](http://www.petworks.co.jp/~hachiya/opensky/)

~~~
Animats
Yes, the Moewe/Open Sky project has been going on since 1995. There was an RC
model, a large glider, and then this full-sized one with a jet engine. This
one first flew around 2013, but now they have more control, can get more
altitude, and can fly around the pattern.

Sadly, it needs too much runway to land at summer comiket.

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6stringmerc
That design, while interesting and reminiscent of all the flying wing
experiments and developments over the years, scares the ever loving hell out
of me. I say this as a person working on a personal wing device also without a
large vertical stabilizer control surface. Brave soul, and I fully applaud
giving it a try!

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riffraff
I watched the video mentally screaming at the lack of protection, not even a
full helmet. I'll join the applause!

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MrLeftHand
I love when writers, novelists, artists dream up something then a group of
crazy engineers come along and build it.

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supergreg
I'm still waiting for my hoverboard.

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WalterBright
An anti-gravity generator is needed. A lot of people would like to see that
:-)

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kaybe
A Higgs manipulator.. We'll get there, we made the first steps.

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InclinedPlane
Video: [https://youtu.be/yHifJXf3oIo](https://youtu.be/yHifJXf3oIo)

~~~
oggy
And the 3rd person version:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17elclJuXxQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17elclJuXxQ)

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radiorental
The bike helmet is the icing on the cake for me.

~~~
jshap70
safety is a top priority, you never know when you might get in a low speed
collision while flying a jet

~~~
kaybe
To be fair, that thing could probably do a 40 km/h faceplant during take-off
or landing.

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mikeryan
In which case you might want a full face helmet and some armor. The bike
helmet is either pointless in the case of a catastrophic failure or not enough
in the case of a survivable accident.

~~~
a_t48
It does hold the gopro pretty well, though!

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gargravarr
Can I be the first to note that being strapped to a large jet engine like that
has got to be terrifying?

~~~
fit2rule
I think its only terrifying until you reach glide altitude, and then turn it
off .. and then .. I think the whole thing is probably fun as hell.

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codeduck
Unfortunately the design of this aircraft means its glide ratio is probably
not that good.

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Applejinx
It can't possibly have an airfoil. That's got to be a purely symmetrical
airfoil shape, otherwise it'd be flipping him over forward violently. I didn't
believe this design at first sight, and when I saw it actually flying I was
amazed at how dangerous it was. It's basically an air surfboard. Astonishing.
The weight distribution is nuts, I can't see how he'd possibly regain control
if it flipped backward or forward even once. It'd just tumble out of the sky
with you on it.

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upofadown
You would use an airfoil suitable for flying wings. They tend to curve up at
the back. One of my gliding instructors used to fly this flying wing with
reasonably good performance (35:1 glide ratio):

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marske_Pioneer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marske_Pioneer)

Note the comment about the narrow centre of gravity range. The instructor said
that wearing his heavy boots would change the flying characteristics enough
that he could notice.

So such things exist and are at least somewhat practical.

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blunte
Would have liked to see it landing. And the caption said the guy is 50. Wow!
He looks like 30.

~~~
puzzlingcaptcha
You can see the landing here:
[http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201608010046.html](http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201608010046.html)

Looks rather gentle.

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callesgg
Should have used a parachute.

You can by emergency parachutes intended for paragliding, at 300 USD it is
worth it.

~~~
kaybe
No use at that height. The minimum I've seen in base-jumping is around 30
meters with instant chute deployment and perfect reaction time.

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DigitalJack
Pretty amazing. I'm worried about the positive feedback in the controls
though... shift weight back to pitch up, which is going to cause more weight
to shift back. Definitely a stall hazard, and a tough one to get out of.

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SonicSoul
_" if i move up the front, the nose goes down because the weight is on the
nose. if i slide down the nose goes up because the weight is on the tail. to
make a turn, if i tilt my body this way the force is on the side"_

yaikes, this thing seems to be all manual based on weight disposition! Makes
it quite a bit more challenging in my opinion.

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JulianMorrison
If you look, the wing flaps move much more than would be possible with mere
shifting bodyweight. So clearly it's sensor based, not purely manual.

~~~
catbird
Looks like there are ropes attached to his harness that control the flaps as
he leans to either side.

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Glyptodon
Can you stabilize this sort of craft with gyros or something? Or is it pretty
much a flying death trap?

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whamlastxmas
Gyros would probably weigh too much. I wouldn't call it a death trap, but it's
probably a fair-weather light-use aircraft.

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YeGoblynQueenne
Aw. You have to lie down on your stomach to pilot it?

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savrajsingh
Video link?

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JoeAltmaier
Japan gotta be the only place to find somebody crazy enough to pilot that
thing.

~~~
FungalRaincloud
I don't even have my pilot's license, but if that thing was in front of me,
I'd ask to ride. Bear in mind that in the early days of flight, we had people
who were willing to play tennis on the wings while a plane was flying below
them. Not being flown, flying. They were the pilot and copilot.

