This is from the New Scientist. Crazy plan.
What do you think the centrifugal force required to keep the body spinning horizontally (with only one wing attached) would be?
How would the system arrest the forward motion of the plane before putting it in a falt spin? I think some of Thailand's local produce may have benn involved in inspiring the idea.
Spinning touchdown
An inventor from Bangkok is patenting an outlandish emergency landing system for aeroplanes.
Normally, when a crash landing is inevitable and no runway is in sight, a pilot would make a controlled belly flop to prevent the plane from ploughing into any buildings nearby.
But Polchai Phanumphai's idea is for aircraft to spin their way down instead. As a suitably fitted-out plane prepares to crash down, an altimeter would trigger explosive charges to make one wing break away from the fuselage and kick the one-winged plane into a horizontal spin.
Phanumphai says the spinning motion would produce lift in the same way as a helicopter's blades, while the centrifugal force should keep the body level. So, the inventor says, the falling plane ought to hit the ground relatively slowly.
The result, in theory at least, is a "reduced loss of life". But the inventor gives no clue whether the rapid spin might do more harm to the passengers than the crash landing itself. Any volunteers for a test flight?
Read full
spinning aircraft patent.