Human-powered ornithopter makes historic first flight


I’m sure you have at least heard an ornithopter before. It is essentially a flying machine that has wings that can flap like birds.

If you haven’t heard of it, perhaps you have seen it. For some reason, my mind has images of black and white films with people in machines with odd flapping wings that never get off the ground. I’m sure that when these old reels were filmed, it might have been tragic. After all, these guys wanted to be the Wright Brothers, but now their attempts are spliced together with a soundtrack that is plucked from America’s Funniest Home Videos.

Some guys at the University of Toronto have created the “Snowbird”, and it has a 105 foot wingspan, weighing 94 pounds. By the way, the pilot had to lose 18 pounds in order to fly this thing. The Snowbird managed to make it up in the air for about 19.3 seconds, and flew for 475 feet. It was only for 20 seconds, and can go at 16 miles per hour.

It’s hard to believe that mankind has actually achieved flying in the manner of the birds. It is a lot like Daedalus and Icarus, but the sun didn’t melt any wings. All of this happened on August 9th, and I don’t remember hearing much about it that day. That is a real shame, because this flight is historical. You can click on my Source if you want to see it fly.

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