King of Excellent (according to Scaryduck)

Wednesday, March 2

On flights of fancy

At last, I finally got one of my most prized moments of TV from the past decade...
Scrapheap Challenge is a UK TV programme that became so successful they decided to adopt it in the USA, making Junkyard Wars. The idea is simple enough; 2 teams of nerdy people (normally men) who love engineering, and give them a task to make something in 10 hours, with nothing but the contents of a Scrap/Junkyard. Over the years we've seen monster building eaters, underwater cars, pumpkin chunkers, car throwers and even rocket sleds.But, for the anniversary of the Wright Brother's first flight in Kittyhawk in 1903, they decided they'd take 3 teams. One from Boeing in the US, one from Aerospatiale in France and one from British Aerospace in the UK, and they have to replicate planes from that era within 20 hours (double the normal, because it's a special show).
The planes were built with a few hiccups, but look like planes. The first test was simple. Take off, fly half a mile between two lines, and land. What happens next is priceless.
Enjoy.