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What appeared to be human forms recently seen flying over New York city made passes along the Brooklyn bridge, flew past the Statue of Liberty, and some even performed loops — they were also part of a viral marketing campaign. To promote a movie, three remote-controlled aircraft designed to look like flying people were flown by ground-based operators. The illusion is at least surreal and at most rather convincing. The RC people design is a product marketed by rcsuperhero.com, which offers “full scale RcSuperhero 78-inch show plane plans and kits, as well as hand tossed gliders shaped as flying people.”
The RC version has an arm span of 47 inches, stands about 78 inches tall, weighs about 3.3 pounds and costs a few hundred dollars as a kit. It is driven by an electric motor that manages more than five pounds of thrust from a 12-inch propeller. The thrust-to-weight ratio makes vertical performance possible. Basic radio control hardware is required. According to the designer, “Any average RC pilot can fly this.”Before the New York, stunt, the pilots practiced at a location on Long Island.
