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![An Aviation Milestone]()
The concept of a man-powered bird-like contraption goes back to ancient times, when Greek uber-engineer Daedalus constructed an apparatus out of feathers and wax -- according to legend, that is. Now a Canadian student has made that myth real.![The Snowbird]()
Called the “Snowbird,” the record-breaking new contraption is an ornithopter, an aircraft that maintains lift with bird-like wings. It made its historic flight on August 2 with the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) expected to confirm the world record at its next meeting in October.![Hundreds of Years in the Making]()
Leonardo da Vinci, through his study of birds, tinkered with similar ideas. He proposed a device in which the aviator manipulated membranous wings using hand levers, foot pedals and a system of pulleys, sketching the first human-powered ornithopter in 1485.![A Historic Feat]()
Half a millennium after Da Vinci, under the power and piloting of Todd Reichert -- an engineering Ph.D. candidate at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies -- the wing-flapping device sustained both altitude and airspeed for 19.3 seconds, covering 475 feet at an average speed of 16 miles per hour.![Wingspan]()
The Snowbird weighs just 94 lbs. and has a wing span of 105 feet. Although that's comparable to a Boeing 737, the Snowbird weighs less than all of the pillows on board such a plane. Pilot Reichert lost 18 lbs. of body weight this past summer to facilitate flying the aircraft.![Entering the Snowbird]()
"The Snowbird represents the completion of an age-old aeronautical dream," said lead developer and project manager Reichert. "Throughout history, countless men and women have dreamed of flying like a bird under their own power -- and hundreds, if not thousands have attempted to achieve it. This represents one of the last of the aviation firsts."![Continuous Flight]()
Video footage of the Snowbird in action is available in 720p on Vimeo, at http://www.vimeo.com/album/1199179.Historical Flap: Student Builds World's First Human-Powered Flying Contraption
A student at the University of Toronto has made aviation history with the world's first human-powered ornithopter: Called the Snowbird, it's a flapping-winged aircraft that managed continuous flight.
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- Historical Flap: Student Builds World's First Human-Powered Flying Contraption
