The 'wooden wonder' is wheeled out the hangar for the first time, the staff gathered around prior to the lunch-break and the strains of an oompah band playing 'There'll always be an England" in the near distance. (Ed. make it 'Me gathered round to the strains of birdsong' for the legal bods).
The reduction of the foot-print to 16 inches (400mm) means, as predicted, that a swivel is required to gain entry. I like the idea of that at the gate... Would Sir mind turning sideways for just the second that it takes?
It also means that the hips do not actually clear the aperture (which is down to under a foot, hedged in as it is by the four rotor-arms). I have visions of revisiting Douglas Bader's being trapped in that Spitfire cockpit and the consequent loss of both legs...
Turning sideways however I find ~ as test-pilot in chief ~ that it is not at all uncomfortable and indeed could be used to pitch the hands around an-off-the-shelf dual-joystick controller of the sort familiar to anyone who has raised a drone in anger, or else steered a car on PS4.
And this is the whole point of inexpensive ergonomic mockups, to test the look-and-feel in advance of metal being cut ~ which it shall be shortly.
The full movie is available at (assuming I ticked 'public' on that drop-down)
