this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2026
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Chapotraphouse

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The Piasecki PA-97 Helistat was an American experimental heavy-lift aircraft, built by Piasecki by fastening four H-34J helicopters to a framework beneath a helium-inflated blimp envelope. The sole prototype was destroyed during a test flight, killing a test pilot and injuring another four in the course of a single incident in 1986.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piasecki_PA-97_Helistat

NSFW Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KY3A2HlbzQ - it's barely off the ground when it crashes at ~1:00.

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[–] Owl@hexbear.net 15 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

something that a blimp, a single helicopter, or an airplane can't do.

Build a train.

[–] Collatz_problem@hexbear.net 11 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

TBH, building a rail track up the mountain is absurdly hard.

[–] Owl@hexbear.net 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Not just that, preemptively building a rail track up a mountain, in case we need to move something up that mountain at some later time.

I stand by my absurd proposal.

[–] Collatz_problem@hexbear.net 3 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Railways demand very strict limits on the incline and the curvature of turns, which are the reason that tunnels are used so often, when railroads are built through mountains. And also you need to transport a lot of cargo, when building a railroad through mountains. Mountains are pretty much the worst case for railroads.

[–] Owl@hexbear.net 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Comrade, the joke is that I'm proposing a bad idea.

[–] Collatz_problem@hexbear.net 2 points 2 weeks ago

There are people, who would propose it unironically.

[–] electric_nan@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago