[redshift]

Looks like you found an alternative to raking come fall... that's gotta be the world's most expenive leafblower :)

Very cool. Just a few concerns I'd have however. The first one obviously is that any substantial debris that got ingested could grenade it. The second is the shock load the bearings might see on a moderate impact. Could be an expensive problem.

I would imagine you'd only run it in clean areas, but still the off chance. That engine might find a better home in a larger custom chassis I'm thinking. The best you could do for brakes would be a thrust reverser, like the big jets use. You could adjust the backflow proportionately semi-independent of throttle position. Best I can come up with..

A different breed indeed!