Posted on 03/21/2012 11:39:33 AM PDT by JoeProBono
THE HAGUE, Netherlands, -- A Dutch man said he completed a flight of about 330 feet using homemade wings based on those of a bird.
Jarno Smeets, 31, an engineer, said he controlled the 55-foot wings using two Nintendo Wii controllers, the accelerometers from an HTC Wildfire S smartphone and Turnigy motors when he took off Sunday at a park in The Hague and flew for about a minute.
"Ever since I was a little boy I have been inspired by pioneers like Otto Lilienthal, Leonardo da Vinci and also my own grandfather," Smeets said.
Smeets has been chronicling his progress on the Human Bird Wings project on YouTube.
Icarus better not fly too close to the sun.
Modern R/C ornithopters use sail cloth to simulate the actions you're describing.
He was shopping from the Hong Kong mega RC store Hobby King. Turnigy is their house brand.
He was shopping from the Hong Kong mega RC store Hobby King. Turnigy is their house brand.
Bats don’t have feathers...yet they fly.
The jerkycam crappiness of the camerawork is a dead giveaway:
Deliberately pointing the camera at the ground so they can transition to the fake CGI wing that suddenly shows an extra black square on the right wing.
These people need to be kneecapped for wasting my time.
Nope,
I blatantly troll there, with my Free Republic name.
Nobody’s noticed yet...I’ve sort of trying to get kicked off, but they can’t report me to their ‘jury’ system, unless I say something that’s not true. So, I just use facts...which is frustrating for them.
While you’re over there, look for the global warming thread I’m on....or my current hydrogen scuffle.
Well alrighty then. Carry on !!
This is pretty cool. Da Vinci ping.
Thanks JoeProBono.
Report: Bird-flight creator confesses hoax
Published: March. 22, 2012 at 6:24 PM
THE HAGUE, Netherlands, March 22 (UPI) — The man who claimed to have created a bird-like flight machine confessed Thursday on Dutch TV it was a hoax.
Netherlands artist Floris Kaayk, who went by the name of Jarno Smeets during his “Human Birdwings” project, said the hoax was eight months in the making, Wired Science reported. Kaayk appeared on a Dutch television program called “De Wereld Draait Door” (”The World is Turning”).
Kaayk said he attempted the hoax because “it’s everybody’s dream to fly.”
“He wanted to chase a dream, as most artists do. He wanted to inspire people and I think he succeeded,” neuromechanics scientist Bert Otten of the University of Groningen told Wired Science. “As an artist he has succeeded, but he has fooled most of us. We all want to fly, don’t we?”
Kaayk asked Otten in August 2011 about the mechanics of flight. Otten said he was not in on the hoax.
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