Best D.I.Y. effort of 2009: the guy who built his own helicopter

And to think I crack a self-satisfied beer after fixing the lawnmower... Wu Zhongyuan, a 20-year-old farmer from China, cobbled this working helicopter together out of a pile of steel pipe, some Elm wood and a 150cc scooter engine using his high-school physics knowledge and researching the rest on the Web via his mobile phone. I don't know whether to line this kid up for a Nobel Prize or a Darwin Award. This article comes with two Christmas bonuses: Bonus 1: a quick lesson on how to fly a helicopter. Bonus 2: five short videos demonstrating exactly what happens when helicopter dynamics go just a tiny bit wrong.

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