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 ...
It's a scam.
Of course I WANT to believe so Im trying to temper that with the reservations from this crowd....you are right a prolonged flight is necessary to prove that it is lifting by the flapping motion of the wings if it comes down in spite of the pedaling its a fake...I cant tell from this video if lift is occurring.
Somehow four years of work seems a bit much to put into a fake.
It got a lot of press and it will be checked out by experts so we shall see
The comment section at the web-site that has the article is interesting. Its the exact same debate that is going on here
Looks like there’s some pretty impressive engineering going on inside those wings. It appears that all of the mechanics are internal inside the wing. I don’t see any wires tugging at the wing from above or below.
I’d love to see how that works.
that caught my eye as well and its a very fluid movement
If it was truly human powered, it wouldn’t need a truck to tow it with.
Fail.
I think it would take a lot more power to get off the ground than to get lift once in the air. But you could achieve the same thing as towing by jumping off of a high place ...is that cheating?
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