Comments on: Why Wing-Flapping PLANES Won’t Fly (May, 1932)

By: MrG

MrG — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 20:42:00 +0000

On ornithopters — maybe somebody already mentioned it, but there’s an interesting Air Force Research Lab video on “micro aerial vehicles”, some of which are ornithopters:

http://www.flightglobal.com/ai.....20939.aspx

I was particularly interest in the pigeon UAV — not an ornithopter, had a folding prop around
the “neck”, the “head” being a video turret. It could set down on power lines for observation and
to soak up power by induction. Fun stuff but a bit creepy, it comes across as a background clip
from a TERMINATOR movie. Cheers — MrG / http://www.vectorsite.net

By: Don

Don — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:16:59 +0000

Warren? Did Charlie just insult BOTH of us?? ;^)

(I’m gonna try flapping my brain to see what I get . . . . )

By: Charlie

Charlie — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:03:33 +0000

Don, Warren: The key is to learn how to flap your brain.

By: Warren

Warren — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:23:20 +0000

The juxtaposition of this treatise on physics with the ad on the bottom of page two (the one about sending thoughts) is made of awesome.

By: MrG

MrG — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:19:27 +0000

And then there’s the (fairly) well-known MacCready pteradactyl:

http://www.avinc.com/ADC_Proje.....?Prodid=51

Ornithopters are actually very efficient for very small flying machines. They don’t scale up all that well, however. Cheers — MrG

By: Don

Don — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 14:05:47 +0000

Flapping plane won’t fly . . . but you CAN send your thoughts via telepathy (p. 178). Yeah, right.

By: Reed

Reed — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 07:26:00 +0000

Au contraire http://www.ornithopter.net/Med.....dex_e.html