Posted on 09/29/2010 5:08:58 PM PDT by woofie
As kids, we dreamt of a day where we'd flap our wings and take off into the great blue yonder to travel amongst the birds, right? On the swings, we pumped higher and higher until at last, for an exhilarating second, we would let go as we reached maximum height and soared freely through the air, experiencing complete independence from terra firma. When did we stop trying to fly? When did we become so content with remaining beholden to gravity? Well, Todd Reichert never gave up that silly dream.
After years of planning and development with a team made up of some of the best and brightest in aeronautical engineering, Reichert, a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto's Institute of Aerospace Studies, recently achieved what we all dream of doing: Flying by simply flapping his wings.
Reichert was able to achieve such a feat through the use of the "Snowbird" Ornithopter, the result of four years of development and construction. A super-lightweight aircraft, the Snowbird is able to fly exclusively through the power of Reichert flapping its wings. It made aviation history by becoming the first-ever human-powered aircraft to attain sustained flight, remaining airborne for a full 19.3 seconds.
While that may not seem like an impressive amount of time, it is important to keep in mind that human-powered flight has been attempted – but not successfully accomplished – for centuries, ever since Leonardo da Vinci drew up the first design for such a machine in 1485.
"The Snowbird represents the completion of an age-old aeronautical dream," said Reichert, lead developer and project manager of the Snowbird. "Throughout history, countless men and women have dreamt of flying like a bird under their own power, and hundreds, if not thousands have attempted to achieve it. ......
(Excerpt) Read more at translogic.aolautos.com ...
First human powered flight? Paul Macready (RIP) might disagree.
Um, that’s mostly a glider, with a mild flap of the wings via pedal power.
Its the flapping of the wings that is new
The flapping doesnt come easy
They got off ground by towing it.
“The Snowbird represents the completion of an age-old aeronautical dream,” said Reichert, lead developer and project manager of the Snowbird. “Throughout history, countless men and women have dreamt of flying like a bird under their own power, and hundreds, if not thousands have attempted to achieve it. This represents one of the last of the aviation firsts.”
What is amazing is how many people are falling for this. It is towed up to speed and altitude by being pulled by a truck, then glides back down to earth. Yes, it flaps it’s wings, but I really don’t think the flapping does enough to keep it aloft. It is just ‘falling with style’.
From another article:
Others have claimed to have built machines that flew like a bird, but the Canadian group says they have the telemetry data to prove their ornithopter powered itself through the air rather than just glided after being lifted aloft.
“Those past claims were never verified. We believe we are the first, because we know what it took to do it,” chief structural engineer Cameron Robertson, said in an interview from Tottenham, Ontario, north of Toronto, where the Snowbird was displayed on Thursday.
count me among the “not falling for it”. It’s towed and it’s a glider.
Using the sun as a meter, you can see it doesn’t have positive vertical momentum. I give them credit for all the hard work and vision. Good luck to them all.
Neat video. I wonder if they could mimic the wing action of birds and develope an engine that could provide power to the wings if it wouldn’t be more power/cost-effective than driving a propellar?
Sorry, but this was human powered flight, in 1980:
bfl
I remember reading about a fixed wing human powered airplane several years ago. It was able to take off and fly a loop before landing. Short course, but actual human powered flight.
lol — look at that nose. The Warner Bros. animators were geniuses.
“Ghost Rider, the pattern is full...”
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