Will it Fly? - Avengers Helicarrier

by FliteTest | January 12, 2015 | (19) Posted in Projects

For our first Will it Fly? episode we took a look at the Helicarrier from the Marvel comic book universe. 

This thing is powered by 8 Avroto motors. We won't go into much detail about the specs here, but you might be treated to some this Wednesday!

Peter likes to describe the flight characteristics as, "On the cusp of crashing and barely flying." Needless to say, it flys like a boat with eight motors on it. 

We took this for a spin inside The University of Akron Field House. 

We also took the opportunity to try out our Blade 350 QX3 AP!

Rotor Type: Quad-Copter
Main Rotor Diameter: 22.8 in (580mm)
Main Rotor Blade Length: 8.27 in (210mm)
Main Motor Type: Brushless Outrunner
Battery: E-Flite 3000mAh 3S 11.1V 30C LiPo, 12AWG, EC3
Length: 18.3 in (465mm)
Height: 7.48 in (190mm)
Width: 18.3 in (465mm)
Main Frame Material: Plastic
Flying Weight: 33.7 oz (955g)
Approx Flying Duration: 15 minutes
Recommended Environment: Outdoor

We challenged our pilot friends to try and land on the carrier. We're still not sure if they had a hard time doing it, or they were just being nice because Josh couldn't do it either. 

Also, mind the props!

We are all absolutely blown away by Peter's work on this craft. Thank you all for your suggestions and PLEASE keep them coming.

If you have ever seen an aircraft from a movie, comic, TV show, and thought, Will it Fly?, we are the people to ask! 

COMMENTS

SP0NZ on January 12, 2015
I love this episode. Great work guys! The intro was pretty funny too.
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sailorJohn on January 12, 2015
That looked like fun!
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rcrc on January 12, 2015
O man I love this!! I love the avengers and you guys put a fun spin on it! But you know what I like more... The Hobbit and you know what that means!!? Smaug The Dragon!! Recently I emailed flite test under show suggestions to suggest building an rc Smaug! I got an answer back from peter, He loved the idea and that it might make an interesting project for the future . I want to know do you guys like the Idea ? Do you want a "Will it fly Smaug the dragon? I know I do ! But then again I am a very big Middle earth fan..
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rcrc on January 12, 2015
Thank you very much guys and keep doing what you are doing !!
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LetsFlyRC on January 12, 2015
That was an awesome episode guys. It seemed like a lot of work went into it. Thanks for doing what you do.
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rdbkr99999 on January 12, 2015
Awesome episode guys! Loved it!

I've been trying to decide between building a tricopter or a quad. I love the tail pivot on the tricopter, but I was wondering: has anyone built an H-quad with dual pivoting tails? I did a little looking and never could find one. Seems like that might be a cool aircraft!
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casehatter on January 12, 2015
Finally got back to experimenting and fun, away from money. This is what it's all about back to the Basic's of the imagination and human flight. BRAVO..!!
Good Job..!!
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FlyingMonkey on January 13, 2015
I'd loved to have seen more of the "behind the scenes" developing and building shots leading up to the successful (or failing) exhibit flights.
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Wright_of_Way on January 13, 2015
Looks awesome! Also, I saw a ship from a developing game "Star Citizen" and was thinking you should see if the Origin 300i will fly :)
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Team Monkey on January 13, 2015
That ship REALLY moves some air. I was flying the lit up FT H-quad trying to land on the carrier. Never hit it in the air and I could only manage hanging off it on the ground, but it was a hoot.

At one point I decided to try and fly under it to test the downdraft. It blasted me down about 4'!
Awesome job Peter and it was great seeing the crew out again.
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Noobi1951 on January 13, 2015
That was, as are all of your flites of imagination, GREAT!
There must be some law, somewhere, concerning having that much fun.
I really enjoyed your return to all out fun, and it seems all your flying friends indoors enjoyed it as well.
Peter you are amazing.
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Bluesmike on January 13, 2015
So what were the little wing based quads(?) at the beginning of the intro video?
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Captain Crash on January 13, 2015
mini heli carrier peter please
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ultramicrobe on January 14, 2015
I like the "will it fly" idea. I am not sure if you guys know the film maker Hayao Miyazaki, he makes animation in Japan - simply great films. Anyway, he is mad about airplanes and some form of weird flying machine appears in most of his moves. A couple plots are based around airplanes, including his latest, called The Wind Rises (Kaze tachinu), which is about an airplane designer in the 1930s. There are some great planes in it, many in dream sequences. Some probably too crazy to really fly, but others are amazing looking and could probably be done in foam board. I highly recommend the movies for anyone interested in flight, but making a few of Miyazaki's imaginary aircraft would be fantastic. I have thought about doing it myself, but don't have the time!
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kknapp on January 18, 2015
Looks like everyone likes this episode

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/tech-news/video-flitetest-helicarrier-marvel-shield-17635604?click=pm_latest

http://hackaday.com/2015/01/13/lego-avengers-assemble-to-the-helicarrier/

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2015/01/taking-off-and-landing-on-the-avengers-helicarrier-drone-looks-so-fun/
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PiFlyer on January 18, 2015
Lola, the flying car form agents of shield

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FliteGreg on January 18, 2015
Nice work Pete, that was a boatload of silly fun to watch! Please don't hesitate to use it again in other videos.
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jimbo on February 16, 2015
when can we have plans for this please
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RonaldoDunnsparce on December 23, 2017
So my father is wondering if he can buy this or if someone can make it for him
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Will it Fly? - Avengers Helicarrier