Flying High in a Hemp-Powered Plane Made From Hemp

Hemp proponents are quick to point out that you can’t get high ON it but a Canadian hemp product provider is hoping to people to get high IN it by flying in a hemp-powered plane made from hemp-based plastic.

Derek Kesek is the founder and owner of Hempearth. Located in Waterloo, Ontario, the company markets clothing, snacks and health products made from hemp. Kesek is now crowdfunding production of what he says will be the world’s first hemp plane. The plan is to have the craft high in the air by the fall of 2015 and demonstrate it at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, where the Wright brothers first flew their plane.

The twin-engine Hemp Plane will carry four passengers at up to 210 miles per hour. About 75 percent of the entire plane – body, wings, seats, interior furnishings – will be made from hemp products and the plane will be powered by nothing but hemp biofuel. Kesek says woven hemp material is comparable to fiberglass, the material most commonly used in aircraft construction.

Will it fly?

There’s no reason why it shouldn’t. Bioplastic made from a combination of fiberglass, hemp fiber, kenaf (a plant fiber similar to jute) and flax is used by many major auto companies and another Canadian company, Motive Industries Inc., build the Kestrel  car almost entirely out of hemp. Hemp biodiesel runs in any conventional diesel engine, although Kesek doesn’t specify whether the plane will use biodiesel or hemp ethanol.

Then there’s the environmental benefits. Hemp is sustainable, hemp production is carbon neutral and hemp biofuel meets most clean air standards.

Does the Hemp Plane sound too good to be true? We’ll find out this fall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZGBLh1a3FE