As far as I can tell, this video documents the final assembly and attempted maiden flight of a man-carrying airplane constructed primarily from cardboard. The focus is on integrating the necessary electronic and mechanical systems. This includes fabricating a heavy, jettisonable landing gear carriage, repurposing a 120-lb thrust electric motor system from a previous drone project, and building a custom instrument panel (airspeed, altitude, attitude) housed within a pizza box. The control system is a "fly-by-wireless" setup using redundant RC receivers. During setup, a significant wiring error leads to the explosive destruction of a LiPo battery. Initial taxi tests show the plane is underpowered for a grass takeoff. A car-assisted tow is then used, which results in a brief flight before the plane stalls and crashes lightly, apparently due to complications with the landing gear not detaching cleanly. The project is deemed a partial success, with plans for improvements.
Building and Flying a Manned Cardboard Airplane
0:41 Jettisonable Landing Gear: A wheeled takeoff carriage is constructed, designed to be dropped after getting airborne. At 34 lbs, it weighs more than the empty airframe itself, making its successful release critical for flight performance.
4:02 Repurposed Powertrain: The propulsion system is taken from a previous "man drone" project. It uses four electric motors in a push-pull configuration, estimated to produce a total of 120 lbs of thrust.
6:00 Pizza Box Avionics: A custom digital instrument panel is built using Arduino components to display airspeed, attitude, and altitude. The entire assembly is comically housed in a used Pizza Hut box.
8:21 Wireless Control System: Instead of a complex mechanical linkage, the plane is controlled entirely by a "fly-by-wireless-wire" system. It uses two separate RC receivers for redundancy on the control surfaces.
12:11 Critical Wiring Failure: While connecting the batteries, the creator reverses the polarity, causing a violent short circuit that destroys a connector and a $200 LiPo battery.
16:31 Fail-Safe Confirmation: After repairs, the RC system's fail-safe is tested to ensure the motors cut out upon loss of signal from the transmitter, preventing a fly-away situation.
20:00 Underpowered on Grass: Initial taxi tests on a grass field demonstrate that the aircraft cannot reach takeoff speed due to high rolling resistance from the wheels.
26:06 Car-Assisted Launch: To overcome the power deficit, the creator decides to tow the airplane into the air with a car, similar to a glider launch.
27:03 Brief Flight and Crash: The car tow is successful, and the plane becomes airborne. However, the jettisonable landing gear does not release cleanly. The subsequent shift in balance after it finally drops causes the pilot to lose control, stall, and crash. The damage is minimal.
29:50 Improvements Planned: The creator considers the flight a proof of concept and plans to make improvements for another attempt. I don't care about the prospects of this, but it seems likely to fail again.