OrnithopterProject
1 HN recommender · recommended in 3 months, 2012–2026
2:24 · 1.1M views · Sep 22, 2010
A short clip of the Snowbird, a human-powered ornithopter built by University of Toronto students. On August 2, 2010 it sustained altitude and airspeed for 19.3 seconds, the first such flight.
Used as the real example of human-powered flapping flight, in contrast to hoaxes and other human-powered aircraft discussions.
6 comments from Hacker News
Why not deride the film maker? The problem i have with him is the same problem that i have with all liars. Namely, that the world is such an interesting and fascinating place, that wasting time on hoaxes and stupid "ha ha! i tricked you!" sorts of media is largely pointless. This dude can claim that his effort was really an "experiment" about online media and how to tell a story, but frankly, I think that's bullshit. This guy isn't doing research about what it takes a viral video to study viral videos so that society might better understand how it is that information is passed between members of a network (and there are folks who study this sort of thing). This dude is just trying to make a project of his go viral. I really see very little distinction between this project and any other sort of fame-whoring, save for the amount of effort put in. So, please tell me if you can, why this hoax is an improvement, or even a useful fiction in the face of real science/engineering awesomeness like this: this video
Conceptually plausible: the cyclic motion of articulated wings (flapping) seems understood in models e.g. [LINK] Jarno's idea of a powered exoskeleton wing to provide x20 power is right in principle, but needs light batteries: Prof Otten [LINK] As comparison, a human-powered articulated wing: this video A non-articulated wing [LINK] (18km) And the famous Gossamer Albatross flew from England to France [LINK] Also [LINK] To the downvoters: haters gonna hate, hackers gonna hack
The disregard for the physics of the situation is actually quite insulting. The "demonstration" is so far from realistic its not even worth a debunking. Here is an example of what this man is claiming to have done, actually being done, by a team of engineers working for years: this video
Human-carrying birds have been built. Piloted ornithopter: [LINK] Human-powered ornithopter: this video Also, Quetzalcoatlus northropi could've been powerful enough to carry a human.
This project is from the same team that recently set the Guinness World Record by building a Human Powered Ornithopter ( this video )