Bird-plane a flying first, human powered ornithopter

**Tyrael** · 23rd-September-2010

Bird-plane a flying first
September 22, 2010

Kate Allen and Debra Black

Leonardo da Vinci, of Florence, dreamt of doing it. Todd Reichert, of the University of Toronto, actually did.

On Wednesday, Reichert, a PhD student at the U of T Institute for Aerospace Studies, announced he had completed the first continuous flight of a human-powered aircraft with birdlike flapping wings, a device known as an ornithopter.

The creation of a craft that would allow humans to fly like birds has captured the imagination of inventors for centuries, but few working models have been built. Da Vinci drew up sketches for a flying machine in 1485, but never made one.

“Some people just dream about flying, at night in their dreams. I do,” said David Greatrix, a professor of aerospace engineering at Ryerson University. “Even though we have flying airplanes, it’s not the same.”

Reichert’s ornithopter flight, which lasted 19.3 seconds and covered 145 metres, is the first entirely powered by a human being. “This is the last first in aviation, and in many ways the most significant one,” said James DeLaurier, who oversaw the project.

“It was unreal,” Reichert, 28, said in an interview.

The flying craft, named the Snowbird, weighs just under 43 kilograms and has a wing span of 32 metres, comparable to a Boeing 737, though its weight amounts to approximately that of the pillows onboard a commercial jet. The Snowbird is made of carbon fibre, foam and balsa wood.

It took Reichert and another graduate student, Cameron Robertson, over four years to make the craft, and cost $200,000.

DeLaurier, a retired Institute for Aerospace Studies professor who is one of the world’s leading experts on ornithopters, devoted his career to birdlike flight. In 2006, he built and flew a motorized ornithopter called the Flapper, another aviation first. But a purely human-powered craft was his life’s ambition.

“(Reichert’s) ornithopter has since landed, but I’m still hovering a couple feet off the ground. It was a moment that’s difficult to describe,” DeLaurier said.

Over the summer, Reichert lost eight kilograms, went on a special diet and trained daily, especially his leg muscles.

He took 65 test runs before the Aug. 2 flight date in Tottenham, Ont. “I didn’t sleep the night before the flight,” Reichert said. “My mind was just racing.”

A representative from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, the world body governing aeronautical records, was present to witness the event.

A tow line tugged the craft into the air and then released it, and the Snowbird was off to its history-making flight. “It was such a neat feeling . . . you kept pushing and it kept maintaining altitude,” Reichert said. “All of a sudden, it clicked and we were able to stay up there.”

The Snowbird works by pumping a set of pedals attached to pulleys and lines that bring down the wings in an elegant flapping motion, a feat that requires both engineering and physical prowess.

“He combined brilliance with athleticism,” DeLaurier said. Part of the team’s goal was to promote sustainable and efficient transportation.

Greatrix said he was impressed with the team. “I’ll give them full marks for persistence. It’s all very promising from an aerospace engineering viewpoint,” he said.

Reichert’s mother, Majel Vye, was thrilled. “This is awesome, he worked so so hard for this,” she said.

The team is in talks with the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa to donate the Snowbird for display.

Link.

Don't know if this is historic enough, but it's a great achievement by a small group of men.

**Marx** · 23rd-September-2010

bloody big thing, ain't it...

**Percy** · 23rd-September-2010

I understand RyanAir are interested. They have asked for one with 120 sets of pedals, but also room for a non-peddalling hostess and lots of sandwiches as fuel.

RyanAir will charge extra for the sandwiches, of course.

**dad_savage** · 24th-September-2010

The spice must flow!

**rohara** · 24th-September-2010

Quote from samofsons

It's better to lose money in your ideas , then lose your ideas to the things money can buy. - The male brain

Very profound and true of the best of thinkers.

**zetamale** · 24th-September-2010

stuff like this just amazes me. I cant even begin to comprehend what it must have taken to even come up with the fundamental design.

These guys are goin far in life

**dad_savage** · 24th-September-2010

Very cool achievement but the article contains one very silly statement; "This is the last first in aviation, and in many ways the most significant one,” whoever wrote this is a damned fool with a very limited mind; while I'm happy enough to admit that this is an astounding first and quite groundbreaking it hardly is invested with massive significance, what applications are there for this technology? Perhaps when it matures we will see something but it doesn't seem that likely so I hardly think it is the most significant first with regards to this arena. There are many potential new aerospace technologies which will change the world in much more profound ways. Still this is cool. Here is an industry we see with allot of potential (Aviation, flight, etc) but one that is very monopolized and restricted due to fears, government interference, and so on as airlines are happy enough with the current state of affairs to not encourage development that might unbalance their industry in some way and it is an industry the government has close ties with and a personal interest in.

Effective long-range transport will always be limited because the state doesn't like people moving around too much and when people do (move around) they want to be able to keep tabs on it.

Allot of research goes on in this area which goes nowhere, allot of technologies exist in this area that are not tapped in any way. The model of air-transport is is one where technology is adapted to fit a principle not one where the principle adapts from the availability of effective technologies and that model consists largely of fixed wing aircraft of the conventional type operating at very high sub-sonic speeds; that is the principle which dominates so when technology is conceived it is not thought or asked 'is this applicable?' but 'does this fit our principle?' and if it is not generally consistent with the above parameters it will be shunned for various reasons: cost, safety, speed, comfort, available infrastructure, etc even if these are not realistic factors. Lighter than air flight for example is largely nonexistent due to safety and speed concerns when the simple fact is it is no less safe than conventional air transport and speed is (for most forms of transport) a decision normally made by the customer with regard to their needs; driving, sea travel and even different forms of conventional flight vary greatly in speed but nevertheless recommend themselves in other ways whether that be cost, comfort, etc. When it operated many people would forgo the speed of the Concord because they judged it too expensive, many people forgo the speed of domestic airlines because they judge road travel to be less hassle, or feel it is more comfortable, etc.

Two examples then exist: super-sonic air transport and lighter-than-air transport each having been demonstrated as quite feasible in the past for its own reasons (speed in one case, comfort and cost in the other) that are highly visible, how many are less so? They don't fit the principle. Experimentation in this arena is something to do as a hobby, not with plans to change the world, unless one enjoys disappointment. Technology in its current form will continue to dominate for a long time here.

A good example is in this country; many people use helicopters for observation of the Barrier Reef in pleasure flights; when I lived on the GC I worked for a guy who had once operated such a concern and who had created a quite feasible model for replacing them with rigid lighter-than-air craft that would carry more people in greater comfort, make longer flights and be much, much cheaper (such flights are largely a thing only the wealthy can enjoy) he spoke to a man who had worked on such craft for advertising purposes and they couldn't see how such an idea had any flaws greater than those inherent in the existing industry aside from the one: there is no infrastructure, no policy, and nobody was willing to make allowance for it to be created. He told me when he spoke to a council worker who's job was in clearing such businesses for operation, judging their safety measures and issuing the correct licensing and permits the guy reacted as if taking passengers in such a vessel was nothing short of human sacrifice, that he would not issue permits for such an enterprise if he could avoid it in any way. Those other businesses who's livelihood rests in maintaining the status quo would (had such a thing gotten off the ground) no doubt worked to exploit the fears already extant and destroy its credibility and reputation.

**Bmiricle** · 24th-September-2010

Oh, I thought the title said "Bird Flying a plane"...my bad.

*tippy-toes out of the thread*

**Percy** · 24th-September-2010

the guy reacted as if taking passengers in such a vessel was nothing short of human sacrifice, that he would not issue permits for such an enterprise if he could avoid it in any way

We are forced to bow down to the all-powerful pencil-neck.