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Human powered flight

(3 posts)

  1. cb
    Member

    Interesting article including a wonderful bit of film from the 60s showing Derek Piggot making the first human powered flight; exactly how you would expect a 1960s record attempt in Britain to look.

    (I watched in silence as the laptop I'm using has a sound problem - will need to watch from somewhere else later).

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/nov/09/50-years-human-powered-flight?INTCMP=SRCH

    I also liked the idea that human powered flight is not just reserved for the super fit:

    "
    "At last a new generation of human-powered aircraft is emerging, lighter and more manoeuvrable," enthuses the Aerospace Professional, the magazine of the Royal Aeronautical Society. "No longer will pilots have to be super athletes. Any reasonably fit person should be able to take to the air under their own power."
    "

    Posted 13 years ago #

  2. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Fascinating!

    I was reading about human-powered helicopters a few months back. You really would need to be an athlete (with current designs and technology) to even get one of those things off the ground for more than 5 or 10 seconds.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  3. chdot
    Admin

    "The Gossamer Albatross was a human-powered aircraft built by American aeronautical engineer Dr. Paul B. MacCready's AeroVironment. On June 12, 1979 it completed a successful crossing of the English Channel to win the second Kremer prize."

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gossamer_Albatross

    Posted 13 years ago #

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