Robert Celt
New Member
Greater Sudbury native Derek Kesek hopes to give a whole new meaning to the saying, "flying high."
The ambitious entrepreneur plans to launch the world's first aircraft made mostly of hemp by the end of the year.
Hemp is the industrial variety of the cannabis plant – it's the strain for making things, not for smoking.
"You can't get high off of it," Kesek said about hemp, which is used as the base material for a wide variety of products, including foods, hemp oil, wax, resin, rope, cloth, pulp, paper and fuel.
When Kesek read about the plant's versatility in an article, he did something most people wouldn't do: Helaunched a company, Hempearth (Hempearth), in Waterloo.
Despite hemp's low amounts of THC, the plant has only been legal to grow in Canada since the late 1990s.
Kesek says hemp fibre, oil and seeds can be used to make as many as 25,000 different products.
While he's working on some smaller projects, including surfboards made of the material, Kesek wants to build a small four-passenger plane to really showcase the possibilities of hemp.
Under current plans, the aircraft would be around 75 per cent hemp. Instead of a fiberglass shell, the aircraft's exterior would be made of a hemp fibre, made solid with a resin.
The big advantage of hemp, said Kesek, is that it is a renewable and environmentally friendly material, that grows about as fast as bamboo. Unlike many other crops, it doesn't require pesticides for large yields.
In 2014, Kesek got in touch with a Florida-based small aircraft manufacturer, Velocity Inc., to build a prototype of his plane. At the time, he told the Toronto Star he hoped to have the plane ready by 2015, with plans to get it airborne in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, where the Wright Brothers made their first flight on Dec. 17, 1903.
But that never happened.
Velocity has pegged the cost of building the aircraft at around $500,000.
Kesek said he plans to launch a Kickstarter campaign to raise that amount on April 20, 2016. In cannabis culture, the date of April 20 is often referred to as 4/20, and marks a time for cannabis enthusiasts to celebrate their favourite drug. In Ottawa, for example, pot smokers smoke up on the lawn of Parliament Hill at 4:20 p.m. on that date.
Kesek said he is confident he can raise the $500,000 needed to build a first prototype within a 30- or 45-day crowd-funding campaign.
Since 2014, Kesek said he has been working with partners around the world to help make his project a reality.
He is currently in Costa Rica, where he is working on hemp-based biodiesel to run the plane's engine.
Kesek said he has also been in touch with manufacturers in India who could manufacture aircraft at a lower cost. India also happens to have an ideal climate for growing hemp.
Kesek said he draws inspiration from billionaire entrepreneurs like Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, and Elon Musk, co-founder of PayPal and creator of Tesla Motors and SpaceX.
"Don't think that because you're from Sudbury you can't do (great) stuff," Kesek said.
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Sudbury Native Hopes To Fly High In A Plane Made Of Hemp
Author: Jonathan Migneault
Contact: Northern Life (found at bottom of page)
Photo Credit: None found
Website: Northern Life
The ambitious entrepreneur plans to launch the world's first aircraft made mostly of hemp by the end of the year.
Hemp is the industrial variety of the cannabis plant – it's the strain for making things, not for smoking.
"You can't get high off of it," Kesek said about hemp, which is used as the base material for a wide variety of products, including foods, hemp oil, wax, resin, rope, cloth, pulp, paper and fuel.
When Kesek read about the plant's versatility in an article, he did something most people wouldn't do: Helaunched a company, Hempearth (Hempearth), in Waterloo.
Despite hemp's low amounts of THC, the plant has only been legal to grow in Canada since the late 1990s.
Kesek says hemp fibre, oil and seeds can be used to make as many as 25,000 different products.
While he's working on some smaller projects, including surfboards made of the material, Kesek wants to build a small four-passenger plane to really showcase the possibilities of hemp.
Under current plans, the aircraft would be around 75 per cent hemp. Instead of a fiberglass shell, the aircraft's exterior would be made of a hemp fibre, made solid with a resin.
The big advantage of hemp, said Kesek, is that it is a renewable and environmentally friendly material, that grows about as fast as bamboo. Unlike many other crops, it doesn't require pesticides for large yields.
In 2014, Kesek got in touch with a Florida-based small aircraft manufacturer, Velocity Inc., to build a prototype of his plane. At the time, he told the Toronto Star he hoped to have the plane ready by 2015, with plans to get it airborne in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, where the Wright Brothers made their first flight on Dec. 17, 1903.
But that never happened.
Velocity has pegged the cost of building the aircraft at around $500,000.
Kesek said he plans to launch a Kickstarter campaign to raise that amount on April 20, 2016. In cannabis culture, the date of April 20 is often referred to as 4/20, and marks a time for cannabis enthusiasts to celebrate their favourite drug. In Ottawa, for example, pot smokers smoke up on the lawn of Parliament Hill at 4:20 p.m. on that date.
Kesek said he is confident he can raise the $500,000 needed to build a first prototype within a 30- or 45-day crowd-funding campaign.
Since 2014, Kesek said he has been working with partners around the world to help make his project a reality.
He is currently in Costa Rica, where he is working on hemp-based biodiesel to run the plane's engine.
Kesek said he has also been in touch with manufacturers in India who could manufacture aircraft at a lower cost. India also happens to have an ideal climate for growing hemp.
Kesek said he draws inspiration from billionaire entrepreneurs like Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, and Elon Musk, co-founder of PayPal and creator of Tesla Motors and SpaceX.
"Don't think that because you're from Sudbury you can't do (great) stuff," Kesek said.
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Sudbury Native Hopes To Fly High In A Plane Made Of Hemp
Author: Jonathan Migneault
Contact: Northern Life (found at bottom of page)
Photo Credit: None found
Website: Northern Life
