Exactly.
A distinction should be made between “flying” and “rocketing through the air.”
I mean, look at a T-38 Talon. Does it really “fly,” or is it simply “rocketing through the air”?
Ever see the Thunderbirds when they flew T-38s?
Grace Slick did make an album called “Manhole”.
She knew.
Okay, second-best would be a non-flying version that was just a small house, but built to that design. THAT I could manage. Parked in my yard. Everyone would want a tour, and it could be moved to different locations. Because like all hippies, I go through Changes.
You could suspend that from an airship and travel the world like Grandpa Potts.
I think that meant something else…
Well, according to a quick google, an empty wooden house weighing 100,000 lbs is not beyond the realms of possibility (And thus good enough for me). This is also around the maximum landing weight of a Douglas DC-7, a Propliner designed just before jet airliners took over. It has 152m² of wing area, which is probably somewhat but not outlandishly larger than the wings shown.
The DC-7 had 4 18 cylinder radial engines for a total of 13,600hp. This is pretty much the peak of internal combustion design and complexity before jets took over, but luckily we don’t need to go 346 mph or fly 21,000 feet up, so we can dump them for something a little lighter. The stall speed of a Cessna 172 is 54mph, and the DC-7 stalls at 97mph, so we need something that can consistently power us at about 100mph. If we’re happy to tool around at the speed of a Cessna not more than 3000ft above the ground and with fuel for 30 minutes, solely concentrating on lifting a heavy house load, we could perhaps downgrade to 3 DC-3 Engines developing 3600hp. It would be nice if we could find something a bit lighter, like the engines from a Fokker friendship sized plane, but these mainly use turboprops, and a modern piston engine from a Cessna Grand Caravan or similar doesn’t get used for loads of this magnitude.
Unfortunately, I think no existing wings would get close to our requirements. What I think we’d need would be modern airliner materials science applied to a long, unswept, lightweight set of wings. Again, I think that wire wheels just won’t cut it, in fact we’re probably looking at wheels similar to the DC-7 again, although since we’re flying slowly, they could be non-retractable, avoiding the need for a heavy hydraulics system.
So, you’re volunteering?
This is not a full-size house by any means. If it weighs a fourth of that it would be fine. I want it made of wood though, no lightweight carbon fiber or that kind of shit. I imagine the lower floor has the pilot’s seat in front, a bathroom and a kitchenette. Spiral staircase leading to second story, crash pad and armchair with reading lamp and end-table with magazines and Chinese puzzle box - you put your weed in there. Now what does it weigh?
