Wing Flappers

[Ross_Moorhouse]

reopened by request...

[Varese2002]

Originally Posted by aerohydro

Hello Jempie

Many thanks for this new information about Professor Baranowski's Steam Flying Machine. Given the current dearth of info that's at hand about this machine, this is a big step forward! In the book you refer to, how specific is the "Scientific American" reference? - does it happen to give a volume number or issue date for the magazine?

If there was such a reference, then that would be very useful.

Cheers,
Paul

I have never seen this thread, but the flying machine erroneously attributed to Baranovski - but in reality devised by O.S.Kostovich - has been extensively covered in another thread, including a scan of the Scientific American 1883 article with the misattribution.

Look at this thread here.

Cheers

Kees

[aerohydro]

Hello All

I've been fortunate enough to stumble across some news about a new human-powered ornithopter project. It's being undertaken by UTIAS (the University of Toronto's Institute of Aerospace Studies), this is the very same concern that was behind the engine-powered piloted ornithopter which made a short flight in 2006.

Here's an article that I found:



A larger version of it can be found here. I did some sleuthing and contacted one of the students involved in the build; apparently there had been delays with constructing the ornithopter over this past summer and it now probably won't be completed until the build team re-assembles in summer 2009. Here's a photo showing the progress made to date:



A larger image can be found here. This project is probably the best chance yet to acheive man's oldest dream, being that to fly like a bird. I'm not aware of any other human-powered ornithopter project that's come under the aegis of a university, with all the resources for funding, personnel, and professional kudos that comes with that. The newpaper article supplies some technical details about the ornithopter:

Span - 30 metres - 98.5 feet
Weight - 37 kilograms - 81.5 pounds
Speed - 27 km/h - 16.75 mph
Power - 241 watts - 0.33 hp
Cost - CAD267,600 - if it flies, then it's absolutely priceless

I really, really, hope that they succeed.

Paul


PS: I know that - technically - that this posting isn't about "Pioneer Aviation" and should be in another one of the Aerodrome's forums, but this project is is too simply close to this thread's subject matter to worry about such things!

[AAC Cadet Leader]

paul,
thanks for posting this. i've been very interested all along to know if the modern ornithopterists have been able to succeed where our esteemed pioneer aeronauts rested their flapping bird wings.

from the graphic painted on the side of their machine. it looks like they have another ambitious goal of flapping their way across the great lakes with it - my goodness! i hope they are successful with at least getting it aloft locally for a circuit or two around their airfield. that, alone, would be a tremendous achievement!

[AAC Cadet Leader]

okay, going back now and reading the article link you included, it looks like the great lakes logo has to do with the name of their flying club, not a goal to fly over them.

37 kilograms ( @ 82 pounds) empty weight.
nearly 100 feet wingspan.
human powered.
i'd like to meet that human!
i wish them the best of luck!

[aerohydro]

Hello All

Got alerted to this thanks to a posting over at BoingBoing. This particular Da Vinci Flying Machine will soon be put on display at an American public library. There is quite a good website showing the machine being built from start to finish. Whilst on the topic of Leonardo, I recently came across this book:

Leonardo's Machines
by Domenico Laurenza
ISBN 978-0715324448

This is a very interesting and engaging publication, as it takes over 40 of Leonardo's sketches - including those of his ornithopters - and renders them as computer images, showing exactly how they were to meant to work.

Cheers,
Paul

[aerohydro]

Originally Posted by aerohydro

I've been fortunate enough to stumble across some news about a new human-powered ornithopter project. It's being undertaken by UTIAS (the University of Toronto's Institute of Aerospace Studies), this is the very same concern that was behind the engine-powered piloted ornithopter which made a short flight in 2006.

Further to the earlier posting: the group who are building the ornithopte now have a website up and running, along with a profile on Flickr where they post their images;

Human Powered Ornithopter website

Flickr: Ornithopter photos

Cheers,
Paul