First Human-Powered, Wing-Flapping Aircraft Successfully Flown

Remember those erstwhile timey flying contraption inventors used to think up ? With bulky , mechanical wings that they flap ? Such a twist — a homo - powered ornithopter — was successfully flown unceasingly for the first prison term , marking a bit of aviation history .

Granted , the 2010 variant of an orthopter is much sleeker looking than the inventions that leap to mind from those grainy smutty and white videos . The University of Toronto ’s “ Snowbird ” has a 105 foot wingspread , but weighs in at only 94 pound . Over the summer , the pilot of the craftiness had to drop off 18 lbs so as to fly it for its criminal record devising debut August 2nd .

The Snowbird end up flying 475 feet for 19.3 seconds , at 16 miles per hour . Not an efficient way of transport , but for most 20 seconds , a human fly like a bird . [ Phys Org ]