The idea of an ornithopter – a machine that flies by flapping its wings like a bird – has been around for a loooong time. And people have had a lot of success building small, bird-sized versions. Like this:

Here is another tiny one with 2-channel infrared control:

You can even build one yourself, using plans like these:

But what about bigger, human-sized ornithopters? What about human-powered ornithopters? This headline sounds promising:

Human-powered ornithopter becomes first ever to achieve sustained flight

For centuries engineers have attempted such a feat, ever since Leonardo da Vinci sketched the first human-powered ornithopter in 1485.

But under the power and piloting of Todd Reichert, an Engineering PhD candidate at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS), the wing-flapping device sustained both altitude and airspeed for 19.3 seconds, and covered a distance of 145 metres at an average speed of 25.6 kilometres per hour.

The video is pretty amazing…

…although it shows that the plane cannot take off under its own power. Yet.

Here’s a motorized version that tasted success in 2006:

This video is a nice compendium:

More info:
- How Airplanes Work
- Leonardo da Vinci’s Complex Ornithopter (c. 1505)

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