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Model Plane Makes It Across The Atlantic

Too Much Free Time

from the interesting-hobbies dept

Wed, Aug 13th 2003 12:59am — Mike Masnick
I guess everyone needs a hobby, and for some folks, it's been an attempt to build a model airplane that would fly all the way across the Atlantic Ocean. They're now claiming they've done so successfully. The flight took 38 hours, traveling 1,888 miles, mostly on autopilot. The folks that built it thought that it had enough fuel for 37 hours, but were surprise to find a few drops left when it landed past the 38th hour.
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8 Comments

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  1. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 13 Aug 2003 @ 5:44am

    old

    This is so yesterday.
    BTW, when do we get a new poll ?

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    slim, 13 Aug 2003 @ 7:23am

    So you're telling me ...

    .... that some model airplane (presumeably remotely controlled by radio by someone in a boat???) went 49.68 miles per hour in a headwind across the Atlantic.

    Dude, you may not have been born yesterday, but you probably did just fall off a turnip truck.

    LOL

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    dave, 13 Aug 2003 @ 7:52am

    Re: So you're telling me ...

    flying from Canada to Ireland i believe the plane would have had tailwind across the atlantic. plus it wasn't controlled by radio till it was about to land, it was all GPS navigation. Way to read the story first :D

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 13 Aug 2003 @ 9:04am

    Then

    Could a model plane made in, say, North Korea or Iran put a spray bottle full of germs in the plane and ...?

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    DL, 13 Aug 2003 @ 9:06am

    Find out more

    Main website for the project is here.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    MissinLnk, 13 Aug 2003 @ 1:57pm

    Re: Then

    Sure. Of course, you gotta remember that this was the 5th plane to try in this attempt (the other four all went less than 1/3 of the entire route)....and that this wasn't the first attempt. So as long as you're willing to having 9 premature "bombings" in your homeland and in countries near-by... :-)

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 13 Aug 2003 @ 6:06pm

    Re: Then

    It will take trial and error. But once the technology is perfected, what prevents a rogue nation or terrorist from flying a hundred planes over a crowded stadium in a big city?

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Looking Up, 18 Aug 2003 @ 11:46pm

    Re: Then

    Hey, kids, let's not get paranoid now. This was a MODEL AIRPLANE, not a UAV. The technology already exists for UAVs to deliver payloads to target locations (wanna work for Boeing?), but even so, it's much too technical for terrorists. There are MUCH easier ways to deliver greater terrorist threats than to load something on a tiny airplane and send it off. Besides, it's more fun for them to fly planes into building, themselves, so they can die and be with 70 virgins in the land of Allah.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]


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