Jet engine powered RC plane

[Oh No a Canadian]

http://www.wimp.com/mphplane/

The engines are only $5000.  ;D

http://www.sitewavesstores5.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=JetCat&Product_Code=P200-SX

 

[NavyShooter]

45 pounds of thrust.

5 pound weight.

9:1 Thrust:weight.....

holy cow, no wonder it goes like a rocket!

Uses 24 Oz of fuel per minute!!!!!!!!

Wow.....

 

[Occam]

I've seen jet engines on RC aircraft before, most notably a B-52 with eight jet engines (and a 23' wingspan to boot), but this thing is nuts.  He just about turned it into a 400 mph lawn dart after it left the rails...

 

[HollywoodHitman]

Some of the guys in my RC flying club have jets. UNREAL speed and capabilities on these things. Wish I knew what they did for a living, because they're not cheap.

 

[jollyjacktar]

Many years ago at Shearwater when I was stationed there as an MP I used to go to the North end of the runways on a Sunday morn and watch the local RC club out flying.  One fellow had a ducted fan CF-18.  He said it took him 18 months to complete and cost over $2K.  I was watching some of his early flights and asked him if he was enjoying himself.  He said , "No, he was too scared of crashing it after all that work."  Now it was going at about 150 mph he thought, and that was plenty fast to see and I'm sure, control successfully.

I did see on another day, a fellow with another example of the same kit do his maiden flight.  It did not end well and became a runway dart.  Total loss, and quite a mess.  I felt for the guy, he was devastated.  But, I have to admit it was kind of cool to see it go all pear shaped too.

 

[Rogo]

Back when I had been in the Air Cadets, we had a model Avro Arrow. It was about 6 feet long and apparently was a proper scale model. Unfortunately the guts were mostly taken out and it was quite old so I would never see it fly. But short of seeing the actual Arrow fly, I feel this would have been the next best thing.

 

[Retired AF Guy]

Keep your screaming airplanes! I want one of these babies!

 

[a_majoor]

Most "jet" RC models use ducted fans, but that is the real thing.

RC jet engines are manufactured from the turbochargers built for cars and light trucks due to size and throttle issues (spooling up a big turbine wheel from a full sized truck turbo would take a long time, perhaps giving you fatal throttle lag in your model).

Now lets take the next step and use one or two on a manned ultralight aircraft. Come on, you were thinking 'bout that, weren't you  >

 

[Retired AF Guy]

Now lets take the next step and use one or two on a manned ultralight aircraft. Come on, you were thinking 'bout that, weren't you  >

Someone's way ahead of you! JetMan! Video's here .

 

[Rifleman62]

Desert Jet Storm, Feb 10 - 12, 2012, Surprise (Phoenix), AZ. An annual event.

RC jets only. Flight line and runway at Surprise Raceway park. They had fifty eight participants, many with more than one aircraft. There were no multi engine RC aircraft.

Amazing, they looked/sounded just like the real thing. Speeds up to 200 mph.

 

[Rifleman62]

F-16 in AK Air NG livery. Top speed 140 mph.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

i can see a tech push to build onboard computers for these that will communicate to a base station for real time GPS, wind, barometric pressure. The onboard GPS will take over and redirect the aircraft back to the base station if it strays to far. Safety systems might even take over and bring the aircraft back into control as well. Considering the costs involved, these systems would likely pay for themselves quickly. Currently cost, weight and battery life would likely be the main issues.

 

[ModlrMike]

i can see a tech push to build onboard computers for these that will communicate to a base station for real time GPS, wind, barometric pressure. The onboard GPS will take over and redirect the aircraft back to the base station if it strays to far. Safety systems might even take over and bring the aircraft back into control as well. Considering the costs involved, these systems would likely pay for themselves quickly. Currently cost, weight and battery life would likely be the main issues.

The new micro computers (arduino, Raspberry Pi) are already being looked at by some in the community for just such an application. Given the huge thrust to weight ratio of these aircraft, handling the extra load should not be a problem.