I have to say this is the first viable design of a roadable aircraft, and I think these MIT engineers will be making history at the end of 2009.
Last weekend, PopSci traveled to Lakeland, Florida, to watch Mike Selby's 5.5-to-1 scale model A-10 Warthog—star of our recent feature story— compete in Top Gun, an invitation-only event that is effectively the world championship of experimental radio-controlled aircraft. Selby's team includes pilot Raymond Johns, an Air Force test pilot and three-star general; pit crew/logistician Bill Davidson, who is the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the US Air Force; and Bangkok jet-engine builder Pornchai "Hard Porn" Saechour.
I was disappointed to learn Mike Selby and his team didn't win the Top Gun title......I am so impressed by the performance of their A-10, if there were no one nearby to gauge the scale of the airplane you would have thought it was the actual plane doing a fly-by. I know building a kit RC plane is challenging, but knowing Selby built his baby from scratch is mind blowing!
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