Pedaling skyward takes a whole crew

Pedal-powered airplanes just blow my mind. You’ve got a pilot cranking the pedals for all they’re worth, but to even get airborne, you usually need a few friends running alongside, giving it a push and keeping it steady so it doesn’t tip or smack the propeller into the pavement. Most of the time, those helpers let go before takeoff - they’re really just making sure the whole contraption doesn’t faceplant before it’s fast enough to stabilize itself. People love to nitpick whether this is “pure” human flight, like when folks argue that a support car in a bike race ruins everything just because it’s nearby for a few seconds. Yeah, slipstreaming is a thing, but honestly, can we just enjoy the fact that someone is literally pedaling a plane into the sky? That’s wild enough. If you’re wondering what happens when the pilot gets tired - no, they don’t just nosedive into the ground. It’s more like riding a bike: you slow down, and the plane gently glides to a landing, as long as you’re over a flat field. Pedal-powered planes are built to glide, not drop like a rock, so worst case, you drift down awkwardly like some oversized bird. It actually reminds me of other legendary aircraft that need a little extra help, like the U-2 spy plane, which has detachable “pogos” under each wing during takeoff so the tips don’t drag, or the SR-71 Blackbird, which had to have foam sprayed into the fuel tanks before every flight to keep them sealed until the heat from supersonic flight closed the gaps. Even the most impressive planes need a hand sometimes. All things considered, I’d way rather enjoy seeing a handful of people team up to get a human-powered airplane off the ground than waste energy arguing about whether the launch was “cheating.” Sometimes you’ve just got to appreciate the ridiculous, glorious effort it takes to pedal yourself into the sky.