Student Makes History with First Ever Human-Powered Ornithopter Flight

Student Makes History with First Ever Human-Powered Ornithopter Flight

A Canadian university student has done what Leonardo da Vinci had only dreamt of: piloted a human-powered "wing-flapping" plane! Called an ornithopter, and the inspiration for modern day helicopters, the machine was first sketched by Da Vinci way back in 1485 and never actually built.

Todd Reichert, an engineering student at the University of Toronto, made history by sustaining flight in his ornithopter--named Snowbird--for 19.3 seconds and covering 475.72 feet. Snowbird is made from carbon fiber, balsa wood and foam. The 92.59 pound vehicle maintained an average speed of 15.91 miles per hour.

Todd and his plane made the accomplishment on August 2nd at the Great Lakes Gliding Club in Tottenham, Ontario. The crew kept the achievement quiet for nearly two months to get the data finalized. Todd and some 30 other students had been working on the plane for 4 years.

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"Thousands of people have tried to do this for hundreds of years," said Reichert. "To be honest, I don't think it's really set in yet that I'm the one who has been successful. I was pushing with everything I had. When I finally let go and landed, I was hit with a breadth of excitement. It was pretty wild."



More:
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2suqI9/www.treehugger.com/files/2010/09/student-makes-history-with-first-ever-human-powered-flight.php/r:t

Not sure whether that mini was a tow vehicle or just a camera platform.

The ornithopter was towed aloft and kept aloft - briefly - by flapping.

that young person must have felt amazed realizing he was doing that.

Didn't anyone tell them they could use calculators?

They had to calculate the speed at which they were released from the tow vehicle, how far they flew, and compare that to what they would have gotten without flapping.

... as an increase in the wind speed & direction could have made as much
difference to the length of flight as the "flapping".

Would like to read more on this but, at the moment, it really looks like
a car-launched glider that stayed aloft for 19 seconds ...

:shrug:

An accomplishment, but not quite what Da Vinci was thinking of. He didn't have cars to pull his ornithopter up into the air.

IIRC, DiVinci's plan called for jumping off a cliff with the thing.