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[LordBucket]

http://humanbirdwings.net

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/01/humans-with-bird-wings

Flight video

This is pretty much awesome. I've only casually looked through the blog, but it appears to be a set of wings constructed out of parachute cloth, attached to an aluminum tube frame. The flapping motion looks to be a hybrid system combining a set of compound pulleys that apply the pull from arm motion to the wingtips, along with two small motors powered by 4 5amp batteries about the size of hand. The tail is powered, and he's using a motion sensor cannibalized from a wii and an app running on a smartphone to handle positioning for stability

So who wants to build one?

[Pnx]

You know I was expecting the required wingspan for a human to fly to be larger. Especially if that person has to have machinery to power those wings.

[ChairmanPoo]

http://www.pbfcomics.com/28/

[Max White]

If I were that guy, I would legally change my name to Daedalus.

[kaijyuu]

I'd change it to Icarus, then defy fate.

[Max White]

Icarus was one of the two men that flew with. The other was Daedalus, who designed and built the damn things.

[ChairmanPoo]

BTW I regarded this as unlikely by default; I've heard that is a straight-out fake, now.

[kaijyuu]

Seems possible to me with a strong wind. Not true flying, but gliding.


Self powered wings ain't happening in normal circumstances. Maybe on Mars.

[Nilik]

Yeah that video... doesn't look right. My skeptiscism-sense is tingling.

For starters he doesn't seem to be flapping nearly as hard as an actual bird does (sort of a wiggle rather than a full flap), the shots of him from the side just look wrong somehow, and he seems to be moving through the air far too easily; he flies completely smoothly, not buffeted by wind at all, and I'd imagine you'd need a fair amount of wind to get going.

[Itnetlolor]

Somebody, send a wire to the Mythbusters to see if this video is legit. And if it is so, I want one. The beach next to my house is like a natural runway on low tides.

[G-Flex]

Somebody, send a wire to the Mythbusters to see if this video is legit. And if it is so, I want one. The beach next to my house is like a natural runway on low tides.

Mythbusters doesn't research the veracity of Internet videos. It tries to replicate the results of things in a garage.

Someone call Snopes, rather. If they're still active.

[Itnetlolor]

Somebody, send a wire to the Mythbusters to see if this video is legit. And if it is so, I want one. The beach next to my house is like a natural runway on low tides.

Mythbusters doesn't research the veracity of Internet videos. It tries to replicate the results of things in a garage.

Someone call Snopes, rather. If they're still active.

They did have a couple Youtube specials and a handful of episodes that involved Youtube videos here and there.

[Luke_Prowler]

Actually, I'd imagine this is the kind of thing the Mythbusters would love to test. Remember the jet pack episode?

[alway]

Jamie Hyneman's thoughts on it: http://www.tested.com/articles/43440-thoughts-on-the-mechanics-of-assisted-human-flight/
An interesting read; he seems to think it's probably legit, as the parts and such shown are what would be required.

[mainiac]

I think I'd rather have a human powered ultralight.  This can only fly with the assistance of a motor.