Sky-pedalo inventors get into a flapVid Canadian enthusiasts have finally achieved a feat that has eluded humanity's finest engineers since the time of Leonardo da Vinci - to build a machine, powered by a human pilot's muscles, which flies by flapping its wings: an ornithopter.
The "Snowbird" man-powered ornithopter achieved its history-making flight last month in Ontario, Canada, witnessed by a Canadian official of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) - the body responsible for authenticating aviation records, first flights and the like. The machine was piloted (and flapped) by Todd Reichert, an engineering PhD candidate at the University of Toronto. It flew for 19.3 seconds, and covered a distance of 145 metres at an average speed of 25.6 kilometres per hour.
"This represents one of the last of the aviation firsts," said Reichert, who was also leader of the project to build the Snowbird. The intrepid ornithopteror had undergone a rigorous training regime prior to the flight, which involved shedding over 18lb of weight over 4 weeks.
The Snowbird itself, constructed mainly from wire, carbon fibre, foam and balsa wood, weighs just 94lb despite having a 105-foot wingspan comparable to that of a Boeing 737. Its pilot powers the flapping wings by pedalling like a cyclist, one of the most efficient ways to generate energy using the human body.
The ornithopter is the culmination of decades of effort at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) which has long studied flapping-wing flight and encouraged many of its students to work towards a human-powered example. The Institute's Professor James DeLaurier won an FAI "Diplôme d'Honneur" as long ago as 1991 for developing the world's first remotely-piloted, engined ornithopter.
"This achievement is the direct result of Todd Reichert's dedication, perseverance, and ability and adds to the already considerable legacy of Jim DeLaurier, UTIAS's great ornithopter pioneer," said Professor David Zingg, Director of UTIAS. "It also reflects well on the rigorous education Todd received at the University of Toronto. We're very proud of Todd and the entire team for this outstanding achievement in aviation history."
The Snowbird now seems set for retirement into the museums, as it is already showing signs of wear and Reichert's training regime was tightly focused on a planned time window. According to the project's organisers there would be little chance of getting any longer flights out of it this year, and "the risk of destroying a historical artifact is not worth the reward".
However the design team expect to post full tech details at
their website in coming weeks, saying that the Snowbird is merely the "first iteration" in human-powered ornithopters. They anticipate major steps forward in future "whether designed by or by another team of inspired and dedicated individuals".
There's some basis in past history for that: the original propellor-driven Gossamer Condor of 1977, the world's first successful human-powered aircraft, was succeeded 11 years later by the MIT Daedalus which flew more than 70 miles across the Mediterranean from Crete to Santorini.
If he could be aware of this summer's events, Leonardo da Vinci - who famously sketched out designs for a human-powered ornithopter in the 15th century - would doubtless be overjoyed to see his dream finally come to life. However, given that these various exploits took place well into the era of jet planes and spacecraft, he might also be just a trifle puzzled.
but this is my view of the content of the video clip.
The craft was launched and gained height assisted from a tow via a gas powered vehicle. Once the tow was released the craft didn’t appear to gain further height. It steadily lost height. This can be seen by watching the horizon behind the craft.
The flapping of the wings whilst hypnotic deflects our attention. I suggest that the flapping can had no effect upon the trajectory of the craft after the tow is released. I feel that the flapping never actually happened in the air; it is a carefully edited in sequence of shots, one showing a downward movement and then an upward movement and then repeated in a loop several times. Alternatively the wings did not flap at all. Step through frame by frame and you will see that the wings tips change shape, not exactly flap. There is also no clear down flap.
My reasoning is further conditioned by the design of the wings as there are no air valves/vents for the up swing to allow air to flow through the wing in order to make the pedal task easier and have the vents close on the down swing to gain lift and height. To clarify; given the design as I see it on the video, on the down swing the craft would lift and on the up swing the craft would dip slightly further than the upswing created as the craft is heavier than air.
The net effect would be no height gain which is exactly what you see except for a moment when the tow/video vehicle goes through a dip in the ground and give the illusion of a momentary height gain of the craft.
Can you imagine the amount of energy required to flap a wing span of 32 metres (105 feet) up AND down with equal air resistance in both directions. Couple this with 42 kilograms of craft weight; add in the pilot’s estimated 85 kilograms, equals 127 kilograms (280 pounds) this pilot would need to be inhuman.
One more point. Intentionally flapping a conventional wing shape, which this craft has, will have disastrous consequences for flight as it would disturb the precise direction of air flow over the wing shape. The craft would almost certainly stall through a lack of directional airflow needed for flight.
This video is a clever advertisement and was put together as an advert to vie for the attention of wealthy parents of students seeking an ‘education’ possibly at the sponsoring University. If this is the intention of the video I like the advert.
Look carefully at the various companies advertising on the craft this video concept is a potential business opportunity for some enterprising person to create a business selling advertising space showing the adverts in a unique way such as shown here.
E.g. a video of a U.F.O (which is not grainy as with all of them) and one can distinctly make out the name of the company written on the side of the U.F.O.
Unless the SOTT team member who vetted this article has their tounge in cheek, I would suggest that she/he has been fooled into believing that this video is for the Science and Technology section of their web-site and not DPLU.