Everyone knows that duct tape is useful but can an aircraft fly covered in the stuff? Apparently yes, according to the TV show Mythbusters. Moreover, there was an incident two years ago where an Alaska pilot was forced to repair his Super Cub’s fuselage and tail by wrapping it all up in duct tape after it was mauled by a hungry bear looking for food.
To test whether or not an aircraft could be repaired with duct tape and then fly, Mythbusters went to James Wiebe’s Belite Aircraft to first “maul” an aircraft with mechanical claw and then repair it with duct tape. The aircraft was able to fly.
If you want to see plenty of great (but copyrighted!) pictures of the duct tape airplane, check out James’ blog here. Otherwise, AVweb has posted several pictures (including the two below) of the aircraft that got mauled by the Alaskan bear.
