First Human-Powered Ornithopter 250
spasm writes "A University of Toronto engineering graduate student has made and successfully flown a human-powered flapping-wing aircraft. From the article: 'Todd Reichert, a PhD candidate at the university's Institute of Aerospace Studies, piloted the wing-flapping aircraft, sustaining both altitude and airspeed for 19.3 seconds and covering a distance of 145 metres at an average speed of 25.6 kilometres per hour.'"
Re:Why Still Pursuing This? (Score:5, Insightful)
Because you can. Because you want to. Just to show it can be done?
Ornithoglider (Score:5, Insightful)
The beginning (Score:1, Insightful)
...is a very delicate time.
Re:Why Still Pursuing This? (Score:5, Insightful)
Beyond the other answers, anything that can be powered by a human can be powered even better by a small inexpensive engine. This could easily result in an inexpensive personal recreational aircraft. Think Ultralights. Regardless, pure science is pure science. Even if this particular application never results in anything, he surely had to solve problems and understand principles that no one has ever worked out before. Parts of that research will have value somewhere.
Re:Awesome stuff, but it doesn't take off like a b (Score:3, Insightful)
This is the FIRST FLIGHT of the FIRST PROTOTYPE built by a college student who further chose to pilot it himself rather than hiring a professional athlete (although he did train and even lose weight). If the first prototype of a software application you wrote in school was more impressive than that, we would love to hear of it. Otherwise tone down the skepticism. One day people might fly this as a sports/hobby thing after being boosted by a friend or a ski lift-type thingy or it would be a cool spy gadget you can assemble from your backpack. Add a two person model or a very small motor to supplement human power and it becomes vastly more practical.
Always one in every crowd (Score:5, Insightful)
Besides the "gee-whiz" factor, why is time being spent on this sort of research? Will any flapping-wing aircraft ever be as efficient as a modern jumbo-jet for transporting large loads of cargo and people? I'm no aerospace engineer, and I'm not saying that a jet is the model of efficiency, but I don't see how a flappy wing mode of transport would be better.
Seriously, dude, if you ask questions like this, Slashdot is probably not the place for you.
P.S. Cynicism does not necessarily make you appear wise.
Re:Awesome stuff, but it doesn't take off like a b (Score:3, Insightful)
Tell me how to build a full scale ornithopter that has room for a full wing-flap while grounded and still weighs little enough to get airborne, otherwise I'm just not impressed with your disappointment.
Re:Why Still Pursuing This? (Score:0, Insightful)
Human powered flight will be necessary in the future because not everyone has oil and most people won't have access to petrochemicals to power their planes. Granted this is a pretty far off scenario but a valid one.
However, flight consists of 3 aspects: take off, mid-flight manuevering, and landing safely. Until a plane can do all three under human power I consider it to be little more than a kite or fancy parachute.
Re:Always one in every crowd (Score:5, Insightful)
One need not appear wise to whore karma.
The phrase you're looking for is... (Score:3, Insightful)
...falling, with style. You might go so far as to call it a toy, just don't tell him that. He thinks he's going to save the universe.
flight efficiency (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Ornithoglider (Score:3, Insightful)