Last week at Japan Foundation, Los Angeles, we attended a lecture hosted by Kazuhiko Hachiya, the owner, builder, and pilot of the M-02J Experimental ultra-light aircraft modeled after the Mehve glider featured in the 1984 Studio Ghibli film The Valley of the Wind.
Inspired by the animated Hayao Miyazaki film in High School, Hachiya set out on a thirty year quest to turn this fantasy into reality. Naturally, this wasn’t going to come cheap, so in the late 1990’s he created a email application in Japan known as Post Pet which popularized email for the masses at a time when only business saw its use. With the success of Post Pet came the resources to embark on his quest. Along the way, Hachiya learned to hang glide, fly ultra-light aircraft, and then build the first unpowered prototype known as the M-02. To date, the total cost of ownership has amounted to $1.2 million US Dollars and counting.
Not having an aviation or engineering background led to a lot of trial and error along the way. He would go through issues with airframe stability, jet engine problems, and general flight characteristics to be worked out. But in the end, he managed to bring his second prototype the M-0J2 to life. The small eight-foot craft is essentially a flying wing with no cockpit or vertical stabilizer. The pilot must rely on shifting weight like a hang glider in order to control pitch and yaw. The pilot must also fly the craft lying down for the controls are not set up for standing flight as in the anime classic. The ceiling for this craft is around 400 feet with a flying time of ten minutes with its current fuel capacity. From the looks of things, this looks like it would take a lot of physical endurance to pilot this bird like craft.
Having no commercial sponsorship, Hachiya has struggled to keep his project afloat. He did find a publisher to write a book in Japanese about his achievement and even sought and got the blessing from Hayao Miyazaki himself to use the name Mehve who said, “please use the name, I don’t mind” with the added note from the famed beloved animator, “Please don’t die.” How cool of Miyazaki! Could you imagine if this was Disney? They would have sent an army of lawyers to ensure the Mehve would never see flight and the builder crushed in litigation so they could have their royalties. Fortunately, Studio Ghibli is not like that. We wish we could say the same for anime fans who get all bummed to see an "Oji-san" fly the Mehve insead of some cute post-pubescent anime girl with unrealistic boobs and unnatural eyes. We say to them, give the man his due! After all, he had the balls and the passion to build this thing which is more than your average fan will ever do.
Despite Hachiya’s success, he has managed to go through two jet engines and looks like he will need a third. It’s unclear if his volunteers have ever heard of the FOD walk (Foreign Object Debris) but he’s lost two engines to FOD despite putting a protective screen over the jet intake. His scheduled California flight in Corona was cancelled due to this problem. Fortunately, he did manage to fly the Mehve at this year’s OSHKOSH Air Show to the thrill of thousands. We hope he can resolve his remaining issues to one day build another aircraft. It truly is a wonderful bird to see fly. We invite you hear to see this work of living aeronautical art take flight. Please enjoy.
To learn more or to help fund the Mehve, please visit: Open Sky