Homemade Seaplane - result of three years of labor and one man's effort

Liu Chun Sheng, a 40 year old factory worker and aviation enthusiast from the Jiangsu Province in China, has built a seaplane all by himself. It took him three years of hard work. He started working on his dream machine in July 2009 and he finally finished with what he had set out to build. But, there is one slight problem with the seaplane he has built. It is still incapable of flying!

Self Made Seaplane

The seaplane built by Liu is quite simple and rudimentary in design. But, it has one crucial technology which sets it apart from rest of the DIY airplanes. The seaplane of Liu uses the "tilt-rotor" technology, where the plane takes off from water like a helicopter using vertical propulsion, and, then rotors change its positions in the middle of the flight to make it an airplane. Tilt-rotor is quite a new invention in the aviation and currently it is used in the field of military aviation. It is quite astonishing to see how a common aviation enthusiast can master this complex technology.

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Self-Made Seaplane

Self-Made Seaplane by Liu Chun Sheng

As has been mentioned earlier, the design of the plane is quite rudimentary. The body has been made of aluminum and welded steel pipes. The cockpit looks like a bird cage and can accommodate only one person. But it houses all the necessary instruments that one needs to fly an aircraft. The amazing thing about this aircraft is that its creator has not taken any help from any other person. The only help he took is from an aviation magazine which he read a while back.

But even after so much effort on part of Liu, the seaplane of his dream refuses to fly. According to Liu, the problem is with the length of the propeller blades which he thinks may be a little too short to provide the proper amount of lift to his 250 kg seaplane. He has two 100 hp engine fitted on both wings of the airplane to power the aircraft and he is determined to carry on with his quest of making this aircraft fly.

Via: M.I.C Gadget/Gizmodo