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Another Ornithopter Takes Off
mnmn writes "Ornithopters have been around for a while, but a professor at the Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies has made progress with his. It flew for 14 seconds and covered a third of a kilometer. However it landed with a bit of a crash. Interestingly it uses a glow jet turbine from RC aircraft."
Yeah, a ducted fan would definitely be driven by a two-stroke glow powered engine, but there's no way that it would generate the thrust needed for that application. They're a lot less powerful than a true jet turbine.
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I wonder if one problem is birds wings, while they do flap, they do not have a rigid shape, they change shape durring flight.
I wonder if an ornithopter could work with a wing that could change it shape slightly.
of course I am still not sure, is there an advantage to an ornithopter or is it just a curiosity thing?
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The professor's website is being hammered by us, so I've only got the Star article to go from. "The R/C turbine provides thrust to get up to takeoff speed, at which point the flapping wings take over." I didn't see mention of a secondary propulsion means that causes the wings to flap. Electric motor? Pedal power? Briggs & Stratton? I'm curious how much horsepower it takes to keep his bird aloft. Anyone know?
I suspect that this can be chalked up to the proportionatly enormous wing muscles these birds have, which is why ducks and geese are sought after game birds. They have tons of white meat compared to, say, a crow. They also have a relatively long wingspan for their weight, I think.
Also, migratory birds don't fly the whole way from Canada down south in one go. They often stop to rest and refuel (and crap on my car).
I'm no ornithologist, but these seem like logical deductions. Could be wrong.
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