Think of lift, think of thrust, think of innovation without the benefit of an industrial policy.

August 3, 2005 1:13 PM

Work Well With Others or, how to power a matchstick plane with houseflies. Reports of success or failure are welcome.
posted by DrJohnEvans (19 comments total)

via sweeney.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 1:14 PM on August 3, 2005

So, do you get extra credit if you actually light the match before launch?
posted by selfnoise at 1:16 PM on August 3, 2005

Isn't this just a bit more creative take on how Jeffrey Dahmer got started?
posted by caddis at 1:35 PM on August 3, 2005

Awesome!

I just wish they had some actual photos, and not these illustrations...
posted by Slothrup at 1:37 PM on August 3, 2005

That's very nice, I'm sure. But what am I going to do with all these puppies?
posted by Smart Dalek at 1:37 PM on August 3, 2005

When I first saw this, I laughed so hard I fell off my lump of primordial ooze.
posted by Mephistopheles at 1:44 PM on August 3, 2005

Morbidly funny post. I personally liked:

[Flies] never act in concert, as a team, with regard for the worth of other, neighboring flies until forced to by grim circumstance - as, for example, when they are harnessed to fly and either first experience the exhilaration of high-altitude cooperation or die.
posted by Moral Animal at 1:47 PM on August 3, 2005

ok, that's either a really big match, or those are really small flies.
posted by leotrotsky at 1:55 PM on August 3, 2005

Better than fly swatter.
posted by WaterSprite at 1:58 PM on August 3, 2005

Finally, an air show for my flea circus!
posted by Sully at 1:59 PM on August 3, 2005

But what am I going to do with all these puppies?

Make them into hats, of course.
posted by Happy Monkey at 2:00 PM on August 3, 2005

I think I see this link about once a year. Fortunately, it's amusing enough to re-read. I think this is the 7th time.
posted by Four Flavors at 2:02 PM on August 3, 2005

PETA!
posted by buzzman at 4:54 PM on August 3, 2005

I am so glad that Work Well With Others is still out there. Four Flavors is not exaggerating: it's been up there a long time, unchanging and unchanged, and still as relevant today as it was when I first saw it.
posted by Hogshead at 5:32 PM on August 3, 2005

OLD
posted by angry modem at 6:36 PM on August 3, 2005

Sometimes American Science and Surplus (sciplus dot com)
sells a ciggarette paper airplane kit that is fly powered, as a science toy, and supposedly works if you follow the enclosed instructions.
posted by hortense at 11:15 PM on August 3, 2005

"Make sure all the flies are facing the same direction."

braaaaahahahahahahahaha

so...seriously, this summer, like summers past, I have a bat problem.. I live in the woods, older cedar house, knotholes, yada yada... every night the young bats just get confused and crawl in and try to catch the spiders that actually own the inside of the house and hang from the beams.. so, I catch 'em with a net in the middle of the night (after my wife screams to wake me up when she hears them) and let them go outside...

But....now...perhaps....a bat plane of my very own... and it's gonna kick ass against that little fly thing!

the question is... superglue or rubber cement... I'm thinking super glue!
posted by HuronBob at 5:42 AM on August 4, 2005

I honest-to-god tried this.

My first piece of advice to anyone interested in giving it a go is to do one fly at a time. Sure, you can catch 3 or 4 flies and get them in the freezer, but when you go to grab them, the open door means some will start waking up.

Secondly, be gentle with them. I ended up crushing one because he was moving a little, and just a little squeeze is all it takes for those guys.

Now, the thing that makes this really difficult is that you have to hold the fly - in position - until the glue dries. Even superglue dries too slowly for this application! That's all I had though, so maybe pvc epoxy or something like that would work better.

I managed to get two flies glued down, but the matches were MUCH too heavy for them to lift. Flies are not very heavy animals, and I don't think they evolved to carry any sort of cargo. So what I did was to use a knife and trim around just one fly.. getting closer and closer to his legs, until it was basically just a tiny little piece of a match under him. He couldn't even lift that piece.

It is my belief that this is impossible, however hilarious a prospect it may be! If I were to do it again, I'd use like 20 flies and some really fast-drying glue, and very lightweight matches.
posted by r3tr0 at 6:08 AM on August 4, 2005

By the way I did this a long time ago, and yes, this graphic has been circulating the net for a very long while.
posted by r3tr0 at 4:09 PM on August 4, 2005