Say you have a team of French engineers, a lake in the summer, a wizened old machinist, and some gigantic bungee cords. What would you build? The answer is clear, a human-launching crossbow. (Video, and making-of embedded below.)
You can start out watching the promo video because it looks like a lot of fun, but don’t leave without watching the engineering video. What looks like a redneck contraption turns out to be painstakingly built, and probably not entirely a death trap. The [Rad Cow] team even went so far as to purchase metal cart wheels.
Everyone else on the Intertubes would tell you not to do this at home. We say go for it. That is, draw up reasonable plans, work with an obviously competent machinist, and make something silly. It’s not going to be more dangerous than the stuff that [Furze] pulls off.
s/crossbow/slingshot/g
Next video, how to make a (new) human spine! Could still be a hell of a way to launch a huge drone though.
People have done this with a trebuchet and died when they missed the net. See Mythbusters, “Human Slingshot”, or so.
These are the same people that made the massive slip and slide. You can see it in a few of the shots. Here’s a link to it https://hackaday.com/2015/11/01/the-flying-man/
French have been doing this for a while:
2004: Jean Marc Moulignié: L’homme Catapulte: https://paramag.fr/contenus/archives/directlive/direct225/qt.html
2014: The flying Frenchies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaVbQ-aKWKs
Tankrede and his band already did that, but better:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbaB1chnim8
They made a movie, le petit bus rouge, which has the full “making the catapult” bit. They also jumped from the highest french viaduct from their (moving) bus, landed (or tried to land) on a dinghy from a shore base jump, …
The guy died last year preparing a stunt, thou.
French have been doing this for a while:
2004: Jean Marc Moulignié: L’homme Catapulte:
ttps://paramag.fr/contenus/archives/directlive/direct225/qt.html
2014: The flying Frenchies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaVbQ-aKWKs
Edit… https://paramag.fr/contenus/archives/directlive/direct225/qt.html
My estimation of the french has just gone up. :)
Crazy and dangerous perhaps; but any crazier and dangerous than snow ski jumping?