Flapping Human-Powered Aircraft

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HPO The Snowbird from U of T Engineering on Vimeo.

A University of Toronto engineering graduate student has made aviation history, successfully flying the first ever human-powered flapping-wing aircraft continuously.

Todd Reichert, a PhD candidate at the university’s Institute of Aerospace Studies, piloted the wing-flapping aircraft, sustaining both altitude and airspeed for 19.3 seconds and covering a distance of 145 metres at an average speed of 25.6 kilometres per hour.

The world-record flight took place Aug. 2 at the Great Lakes Gliding Club in Tottenham, Ont. It was witnessed by the vice-president (Canada) of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale – the world body governing air sports and aeronautical world records. It was also Canada’s first successful human-powered aircraft flight.

The human-powered ornithopter – named the Snowbird – weighs just over 42 kilograms and has a wing span of 32 metres.

...Reichert flew the ornithopter by putting his feet on pedals and pushing with his legs. The energy stroke is forward with his legs. A system of pulleys and lines attached to the wings would pull down when he pushed forward, explained advisor and Professor Emeritus at University of Toronto James D. DeLaurier in an interview with the Star.

“The aerodynamics and the stored elasticity of the wing spar would bring the wing back up. The down stroke was the human-powered part – that’s how birds and bats fly.”