On August 2, 2009, students from the
University of Toronto Institute of Technology
set a world record for sustained man-powered ornithopter flight - 19.3 seconds,
covering a distance of 145 meters at an average speed of 25.6 k/hr. The included
video records that flight which took place at the
Great Lakes Gliding Club in Tottenham
in Ontario, Canada, in the
presence of the
Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI).
The "Snowbird" weighs in at just 45 kg (99 pounds w/o pilot), and has a wing span
of 32 meters (105 feet), and is powered by a 0.3 hp engine (the human pilot). Model
building skills and materials are used throughout; e.g., carbon fiber, Styrofoam
and balsa, CA glue and
vacuum-bagging laminated
assemblies. Details of the aircraft structure and wing-flapping device are hard
to find.
"A
Study of Mechanical Flapping Wing Flight," 1993, by J. D. DeLaurier (University
of Toronto) and J. M. Harris (Battelle Memorial Institute) - this is a technical
paper with lots of mathematics that also presents a model designed for an OS Max
.45 engine
Even during the busiest times of my life I have endeavored to maintain some form
of model building activity. This site has been created to help me chronicle my journey
through a lifelong involvement in model aviation, which
all began in Mayo, MD
...
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