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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.
The gift of death metal does not smile on the good looking.
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?
A Smith & Wesson beats four aces -- Murphy's Law of Poker
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?
Real nerds thought of Dune.