(September 22, 2010) Aviation
history was made when the University of Toronto’s human-powered aircraft with
flapping wings became the first of its kind to fly continuously.
The “Snowbird” performed its record-breaking flight on
August 2 at the Great Lakes Gliding Club in Tottenham, Ont., witnessed by the
vice-president (Canada) 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 (EngSci
OT5), an Engineering PhD candidate at the University of Toronto Institute for
Aerospace Studies (UTIAS), the wing-flapping device sustained both altitude and
airspeed for 19.3 seconds, and covered a distance of 145 metres at an average
speed of 25.6 kilometres per hour.