A man-powered aircraft with flapping wings made aviation history by becoming the first of its kind to fly continuously for almost 20 seconds.
The “Snowbird” performed its record-breaking flight August 2 at the Great Lakes Gliding Club in Tottenham in Ontario, Canada, in the presence of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the world-governing body for air sports and aeronautical world records.
The official record claim was filed this month, and the FAI is expected to confirm the ornithopter’s world record at its meeting in October. For centuries engineers have attempted such a feat, ever since Leonardo da Vinci sketched the first human-powered ornithopter in 1485.
But under the power and piloting of Todd Reichert, an engineering Ph.D candidate at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS), the wing-flapping device sustained both altitude and airspeed for 19.3 seconds. It covered a distance of 145 metres at an average speed of 25.6 kmph.
“The Snowbird represents the completion of an age-old aeronautical dream,” says lead developer and project manager Reichert. “Throughout history, countless men and women have dreamt 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.”