Rubber Bandit

[dfcullum]

Does anyone know what happened to the Rubber Bandit?

[rwanttaja]

Something just snapped.... :-)

Ron Wanttaja

[FlyingRon]

But he's sure to bounce back.

[Joe LaMantia]

All wound-up and overextended!

[WingsAloft]

Don't ya think that's a bit of a stretch?

[Floatsflyer]

All snappy retorts, I applaud you all, but inquiring minds would like to know who or what is the "Rubber Bandit"?

[rwanttaja]

All snappy retorts, I applaud you all, but inquiring minds would like to know who or what is the "Rubber Bandit"?

I believe it is one of the rubber-band-powered ultralights that have appeared at AirVenture....

Ron Wanttaja

[Hal Bryan]

There's a little more info (and a photo) here:

http://blog.cafefoundation.org/?p=3992


(Not to mention at least one more terrible pun... ;) )

[Floatsflyer]

Thanks for the info Ron & Hal, very cool, didn't know this had been achieved. The little boy in all of us endures....the size of the toys just gets larger.

[dfcullum]

Does anyone know what happened to the Rubber Bandit?

The Rubber Bandit was a fun project started by (I believe) a group at Van Nuys airport in Los Angeles, CA. It was a fairly large airplane, I'm guessing 40-50 foot span, with a tubular fuselage containg a very large mult-strand rubber band, to be wound up by an external powered winder. I'm surprised no one seems to remember it. I last saw it in a hangar at an airport I stopped at on my way from San Diego to Oshkosh some years ago - perhaps 1997. I have a couple of photos of it in the hangar, but don't recall the name of the airport.

[Frank Giger]

I have a couple of photos of it in the hangar, but don't recall the name of the airport.

That's the problem with getting older; our memories lose their elasticity.