Aviation history is made by 'flapper'

The Toronto Star ^ | 07/09/2006 | By DEBRA BLACK

[oxcart]

Patrick Zdunich, works on the glow plug of the small jet engine mounted under the fuselage of the aircraft. The tiny jet (used normally for big model aircraft), will get the plane moving on the ground up to takeoff speed before the flapping wings take over in flight.

[Uriah_lost]

In the novels of the Dune series by Frank Herbert orinthopters were the primary method of atmospheric transport.

[Uriah_lost]

I hope there was video made and that it gets posted somewhere.

[patton]

Ohhhhhh....I haven't read Dune since (mumble mumble mumble)....

[SandRat]

Flapper Project

DAVID COOPER / TORONTO STAR

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A flapping wing plane flew for the first time Saturday morning at Downsview. Piloted by Jack Sanderson, it managed to stay in the air for 14 seconds before a crosswind caused it to bank over and crash back onto the runway here.

 

[oxcart]

Looking now.

[TomSmedley]

Samuel Pierpont Langley, bureaucrat, spent $80,000 of taxpayer money (in 1904 dollars) to create a plane that splashed. Failure due, Langley said, to "insufficient funds."

The bishop's boys, Wilbur and Orville, spent somewhat less that $1,000 of their own money.

The privatization of space transport could, I believe, lead to a new golden age.

[OSHA]

I guess the feather boa helps.

[Vince Ferrer]

I guess there was some tasty bird seed on the runway?

[oxcart]

Thank You...I wish I could do that!

[oxcart]

There is just something about those "Ohio" boys and "toys".

[oxcart]

LOL, drenched my key board!

[LizardQueen]

I just love inventors who get fixated on something like this. The world would be a much less interesting place without people like this working on an impractical dream for 30 years. More power to them!

LQ

[oxcart]

Yes, they make it interesting, but when they make things like this the Darwin Award comes into play.

[El Gato]

Cool, as a novelty. Not sure about any commercial application. Too much can go wrong.

The same is true of any helicopter. Especially the Piaseki/Vertrol/Boeing design, but also the Kaman, both basic types have overlaping main rotors, which can "become entangled". Not that the single main rotor w/anti torque tail rotor type is without it's problems as well. This actually looks a bit simpler than most helicopters.

[patton]

LOL - the Chinook - only aircraft capable of having a collision with itself...

[eeman]

If your interested in the Wright Brothers and the development of military aviation, you might enjoy this book: Air Power

I happened to glance at the book while browsing at Barnes & Noble and I couldn't put it down.

Off topic, but is Langley field in Virginia named after Samuel Pierpont Langley?

[figgers3036]

Oh, very cool. Surely not practical right now, but still interesting. Who knows where it'll lead?

[Gumlegs]

Yes. So was the USS Langley (CV-1).

More shots here.

[Gumlegs]

Well ... it worked when I previewed it.