NASA experimental electric plane

[vger]

http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/17/nasa-testing-leaptech-wing/

What I find most interesting about this, is the location of so many props on the wing.

Apparently, the props will provide the lift by blowing air into the wings, enabling the craft to fly at unusually low speeds.

Is my logic failing me? Doesn't this sound strikingly similar to moving a sailboat by pointing a fan at the sail?

[Tommygun]

Pilot: "Huston, we have a problem. I have lost the number two engine and I am declaring an in air emergency. We will attempt an emergency landing with the renaming 19 engines."

Control: "Understood, we will foam the runway"

[Iskierka]

Trying to blow a sail with a fan fails because you're pushing against the direction you're trying to make the sail push you. The props on a plane push air back while a wing pushes air down to push the plane up, and additional airspeed from a prop does help with this - it's a well-observed effect that props consistently have slightly lower takeoff speed than jets, and there's various experimental features like blown flaps to try exploit such effects in various ways. So no, they're not crazy for getting more lift by using lots of props, that's a known and well documented effect. Whether it'll help more than they lose from all the interactions between having so many separate propellers ... that's another question that remains to be answered.