In order to safely pilot a remote control quadcopter that can hit speeds of well over 160 miles per hour, pilots wear video goggles that give them a first-person view from the tiny crafts. It’s not only a safer way to pilot RC planes, but when you bump the speed up to 265 MPH, as YouTuber Omegoolibird did with a customized aircraft, the experience is as close as you can probably get to flying like Superman or Iron Man.
The plane Omegoolibird used was a pusher-prop Vasamodel Fusion, which places the spinning propeller at the back of the craft, instead of the front. To hit the face-melting speeds captured in this video, the Fusion was upgraded with a Leopard 3674 X2 brushless electric motor that can hit spin speeds of up to 35,000 revolutions per minute. You might assume that would simply shred the plane’s propeller, but it was specifically designed to endure those obscene speeds and held strong. The only side effect, if you can call it that, was the incredibly satisfying high-pitched whine of the prop and motor you can hear in the video.
Omegoolibird’s modified Fusion isn’t the fastest RC plane in the world; remote control gliders have been clocked hitting well over 500 MPH. But being able to virtually climb aboard this tiny plane thanks to a camera streaming a live video feed of the flight makes it far more compelling as you get to experience these speeds first-hand, without the need for ever getting your pilot’s license.
[YouTube via The Awesomer]