Student flies like a bird, powered only by himself
By Jerry James Stone, TreeHugger
Posted Thu Sep 23, 2010 3:48pm PDT
(Photo via Todd Reichert)
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.
Human-Powered Flight from U of T Engineering on Vimeo.
Todd and his plane made the accomplishment on August 2, 2010, 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.
(Photo via Todd Reichert)
The team went through 65 practice flights, and sadly, the aircraft will probably never be flown again.
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Todd endured a year-long exercise program in which he lost 18 lbs. to prep for the flight. Because the plane has a wingspan of 104 feet -- which is comparable to that of a Boeing 737 -- the pilot had to pedal with his legs all while pulling on the wings to flap at the same time. And he had to do it fast enough to fly!
(Photo via Todd Reichert)
"Our original goal was to complete this sort of original aeronautical dream to fly like a bird," said 28-year-old Reichert yesterday. "The idea was to fly under your own power by flapping your wings."
The flight, witnessed by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, is the first officially confirmed flight in an ornithopter.
"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."
I bet it was, Todd!
Video at link
My question is since it was a tow start how can they determine how much was "flight" and how much was "gliding"?
Okay... There's all kinds of things wrong with what you just said.
Ok, that's some achievement. Pointless, but some achievement.
Gliders, Paragliders and hangliders have flown like birds, (by using thermals to soar, ) for many years, I don';t know what he was hoping to add to this.
But still, it got him fit.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
oldr_n_wsr wrote:Bats fly and they cannot take off from the ground. They need height first then they "jump down" to get to flight speed.
I seem to remember seeing something on one of the science channels, History,Discouvery or Animal, where they showed very large vampire bats in, I believe south America, inflicting wounds in the legs of cattle to get the blood. The bats were doing that wing walking thing until finished then taking off.
I expect to go straight to hell...........at least I won't have to spend time making new friends.
That could be, I was mainly talking about the brown bats and others here in the northeast. I know they can't take off with just their wings.
Good to see you around Miles.
