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[alway]

Ah, nvm, thought you were talking about the wings from the thread topic. >_____>

[Loud Whispers]

Ah, nvm, thought you were talking about the wings from the thread topic. >_____>

Free hugs all round :3

[DJ]

I don't get why it's so utterly impossible to have a human-powered aircraft. If you have enough strength to lift your own weight + weight of whatever contraption you'd be using you should have enough strength to power it. Arm flapping motions obviously wouldn't work due to crap leverage, but something where you put your whole body into it (kinda like rowing) could. And yeah, sure, you don't get anything near 100% of the power you put in translated into lift, but then again you also get quite a bit of free lift from air currents if you know how to ride them.

[Loud Whispers]

It's impossible on Earth.

Give some astronauts gecko wings on the moon and it's all go!

[GlyphGryph]

Self powered =/= Powered by man :/

And people have flown in planes for decades. This is a man + wings + jet engine, nothing else.

Self powered means powered by your self. If you are a man then yes it means man-powered. Birds manage self-powered flight, obviously, and that's bird-powered, so it's only man-powered for man. If it was somehow hooked into his metabolism, one would have a case it was self-powered (if not self-propelled), but that's clearly not the case. The power comes from something outside the self.

The guy is not powering his jet-glider himself. In what way is it "self-powered" that a plane is not? Since, you know, it IS a plane, just a small one you ride on the outside of. :/
Seriously, I can't understand where you are coming from here. How is that possibly self powered, in a way a plane or a helicopter or a jetpack is not? Can anyone at all explain this to me?

[DrPoo]

The video is fake as hell, its worser than those UFO videos lol

[Sir Finkus]

I don't get why it's so utterly impossible to have a human-powered aircraft. If you have enough strength to lift your own weight + weight of whatever contraption you'd be using you should have enough strength to power it. Arm flapping motions obviously wouldn't work due to crap leverage, but something where you put your whole body into it (kinda like rowing) could. And yeah, sure, you don't get anything near 100% of the power you put in translated into lift, but then again you also get quite a bit of free lift from air currents if you know how to ride them.

It isn't, we've had a few pedal powered airplanes.  They have massive wings so they can fly at very low speeds without stalling.  I think someone even flew one across The English Channel a few years back. 

[GlyphGryph]

Yeah, we do hav self-powered vehicles, and they're pretty cool. Though the logic behind

If you have enough strength to lift your own weight + weight of whatever contraption you'd be using you should have enough strength to power it

Is... not correct. Flying takes a lot of energy, some of it very quickly (depending on how you're flying). Being able to lift somethings not a good indicator that you should be able to fly.

[kaenneth]

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/03/22/dutch-artist-admits-faking-viral-human-bird-wings-video/

[LordBucket]

I don't get why it's so utterly impossible to have a human-powered aircraft.

It isn't. But some people take pleasure in shooting the idea down so they can feel good about knowing something, even if what they think they know is incorrcet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-powered_aircraft

It's been done as early as the 60s. The english channel was crossed (35km) by a pedal powered fixed-wing plane in 1979. Here's a video of that craft in flight. Here's a video of a pedal powered blimp. In the 80s we had the Daedalus: source 1, source 2, documentary video Please note the nasa.gov URLs on those first two links.

Finally...if you want to buy one right now, you can. Go here and read about para cycles. They cost about $10,000. Here's a flight video.

We're talking about 50 year old technology, longer than probably anyone reading this has been alive...but people will continue to insist that it's impossible.

*shrug*

[Mr. Palau]

I don't get why it's so utterly impossible to have a human-powered aircraft.

It isn't. But some people take pleasure in shooting the idea down so they can feel good about knowing something, even if what they think they know is incorrcet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-powered_aircraft

It's been done as early as the 60s. The english channel was crossed (35km) by a pedal powered fixed-wing plane in 1979. Here's a video of that craft in flight. Here's a video of a pedal powered blimp. In the 80s we had the Daedalus: source 1, source 2, documentary video Please note the nasa.gov URLs on those first two links.

Finally...if you want to buy one right now, you can. Go here and read about para cycles. They cost about $10,000. Here's a flight video.

We're talking about 50 year old technology, longer than probably anyone reading this has been alive...but people will continue to insist that it's impossible.

*shrug*

Tis true, if you pedel you can generate enough energy that you can fly, just like you always wanted, but never like a bird on earth.

Nearest semi-planetary body for that is the moon, where it is legitemitly possible to fly, in an enclosed earth atmosphere pressure dome of course, just by flaping your arms with some quality wings strewn across 'em.

[LordBucket]

never like a bird on earth

It's simply an engineering problem of material strength/weight and precision of control. Bird wings are not fixed, solid objects tnat simply move and and down.

Look at this this picture. He's supporting his weight with his arms.  If you could simply build sufficiently light wings that could be precisely controlled rather than flapping up and down, that man could fly. The strength is there.

For example, imagine combining a wingsuit with flexible, full length wings using something considerably lighter and stronger than aluminum to hold their shape. Now, design them such that when the arms are pulled in, the entire wing folds in on itself. Say...with fist to shoulder and elblow to ribs, the wings contract to a quarter of their fully extended length. Build it so that the contraction and extension can be done as quickly as you can move your arms. Precision control of wing orientation could be managed by adjusting rotation and position of the shoulders. And add a locking position so that the wings could be held in a stationary "glide" position without being supported by any muscles to allow flyers to rest while gliding.

Put that gymnast in those wings...he'd be able to fly. The strength to support his body weight is there. It simply needs to be properly applied to the air.

Finally, keep in mind that there are places with enough wind currents that hang gliders can fly completely unpowered for hours. As in...no motor, no wings flapping...nothing at all. With a proper wing design, anybody would be able to fly in places like that even without the strength of a gymnast.

Nearest semi-planetary body for that is the moon, where it is legitemitly possible to fly, in an enclosed earth atmosphere pressure dome of course, just by flaping your arms with some quality wings strewn across 'em.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Good book.

But if you're willing to build structures of that sort, there's no need to go to the moon. Just build the wings that I described and go to a vertical wind tunnel.

It's just as engineering problem, guys. Anything is possible.

[lordcooper]

Can't we just get a load of bird wings and glue them together? #WWUD

[Loud Whispers]

Can't we just get a load of bird wings and glue them together? #WWUD

[Robosaur]

The video is fake as hell, its worser than those UFO videos lol

You now have no credibility.