Flying a Plane Powered by AIR

Hey a tip for your air storage: people that build water rockets have perfected splicing plastic bottles together for high pressure use. The channel US Water Rockets has some good videos about bottle splicing. You could save some weight and make larger chambers fairly easily.

Dang! Love the perseverance and quality!

I can't get over how it sounds like a proper engine I'm glad you documented it all because i couldn't stomach all this effort myself

I imagine you feel the same way the Wright Brothers felt achieving their first 12-second flight. Very different problems for very different times, but you both breathe rare air.

It's finally taking flight! Glad to see all that air engine testing coming to fruition, that's gotta feel good.

I love the split second thought at 15:12 where you almost seem to think "I can save it!"... Immediately followed by what seems to be ..."But it might cut my finger off?" I really enjoyed this video! Well done sir.

Hi, something about your wings. Wings have the most drag at the ends because there the pressure between top and bottom is balanced and you get a whirl. For that reason the wings of a sailplane are long and get narrower to the ends. In your design there is a problem in the center too because the wings aren't connected and you loose pressure in the middle too. I think, it will already help if you connect the wings with some packaging tape. Best regards, Frank

Tom you really have outdone yourself. As an engineer I really admire the design. Hats off it really is a beautiful plane. It’s been a great journey through all the different different versions and you’ve finally done it. I love how happy you are when you see it flying. I am very happy for you. Well done !!!

Can I just say that I love everything about this series? The incremental efficiency gains, Tom's persistence, the planes themselves of course, and as a bonus, the lovely noise they make. I find it amazing that Tom keeps setting new goals and reaching them. Looking forward to the next one!

Thats an amazing flight! Well done!

What am I doing here. I have school tomorrow and its almost 2am. I don't even own a 3d printer

This is so cool! You might want to implement a preflight checklist so excitement doesn't make you forget important details 😊

Hi Tom, epic project! I'm sure you've had lots of suggestions but I'll throw in mine anyway: 1. Replace the MG90S servos with standard SG90 servos, you don't need metal gears and this will save about 4g. You could also go smaller (GH-S37D) for a total saving of 15g and reduced size of the supporting structure. 2. Smaller LiPo pack. 3. Build up the tail surfaces from 3mm square balsa rather than sheet. 4. Taper the wings - better lift distribution and structural efficiency. Taper the spars to reflect the reduced bending moment as you move towards the tips. For tubular carbon you could glue increasingly smaller sections together, telescope style. You may need to add a few degrees of washout at the tips but this is easily done by twisting the wing to the desired angle and re-shrinking the film. 5. Lose the gap in the wing centre section and make the wing continuous. This is a big source of drag and is effectively halving your aspect ratio. 6. Add some rounded or tapered wing tips 7. Test some different props to find an optimum for this engine / airframe combination. This can make a big difference. 8. Higher pressure of course. 9. Don't use paint, it's heavier than you'd think and not needed under the film. 10. Use an iron rather than a heat gun to shrink the film. You'll have much better control and won't melt holes in it. On your comparison to CO2 canisters, I'm not sure that's valid as the CO2 is compressed to liquid phase so it's not just a comparison of ideal gas volumes. Great work though, I look forward to the next iteration.

As an Engineer, i salute to your insane amount of passion you put in this airplane. It makes me smile uncontrollably to watch you progress on that project. This is nerdyness in its purest form. Thank you for your videos!

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My little brother had the same air higs. We used to have so much fun with it. I was just randomly reminiscing about it to myself last night, remembering all the fun we used to have together. Crazy I come across this video the next day.

Two tips. 1) I have been recycling PET diet coke bottles into printer filament for some time. My first step is to smooth out the iconic shape by pressurizing it to 70psi with a little water and heating it slowly in an oven. I've successfully shrunk, elongated in a form, and reformed the bottoms into a smooth dome. You may want to consider doing the same, giving you more volume at the same weight. Coca Cola published that their 2 liter bottles are rated for 150 psi, so if you only need 70 some experimentation might be warranted. I would love to see what you come up with. 2) Secondly, you could replace the tail rod with a pressurized fluorescent tube protector and make the plane a flying air tank. The water rocket people use them as pressure tanks as well, so there is a lot of data and technique to start with!

This is exactly what 3D printers were made for. WELL DONE!

Congratulations love how excited you get when it worked

I love videos where somebody has an idea and makes it work without given up! Especially this one because I am an aviation enthusiast!