World's First Human-Powered Ornithopter
Why Hacker News recommends it
Used as the real example of human-powered flapping flight, in contrast to hoaxes and other human-powered aircraft discussions.
What it is
A short clip of the Snowbird, a human-powered ornithopter built by University of Toronto students. On August 2, 2010 it sustained altitude and airspeed for 19.3 seconds, the first such flight.
Recommended by 1 HN commenters across 1 different months, 2012 to 2026.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec knowtheory · 2012-03 · on “‘Bird Man’ Hoaxster Comes Clean on Dutch Television”
Why not deride the film maker? The problem i have with him is the same problem that i have with all liars. Namely, that the world is such an interesting and fascinating place, that wasting time on hoaxes and stupid "ha ha! i tricked you!" sorts of media is largely pointless. This dude can claim that his effort was really an "experiment" about online media and how to tell a story, but frankly, I think that's bullshit. This guy isn't doing research about what it takes a viral video to study viral videos so that society might better understand how it is that information is passed between members of a network (and there are folks who study this sort of thing). This dude is just trying to make a
Cites katovatzschyn · 2012-03 · on “Man Supposedly Flies With Custom-Built Bird Wings”
The disregard for the physics of the situation is actually quite insulting. The "demonstration" is so far from realistic its not even worth a debunking. Here is an example of what this man is claiming to have done, actually being done, by a team of engineers working for years: [this video]
Cites 6ren · 2012-03 · on “Man Supposedly Flies With Custom-Built Bird Wings”
Conceptually plausible: the cyclic motion of articulated wings (flapping) seems understood in models e.g. [LINK] Jarno's idea of a powered exoskeleton wing to provide x20 power is right in principle, but needs light batteries: Prof Otten [LINK] As comparison, a human-powered articulated wing: [this video] A non-articulated wing [LINK] (18km) And the famous Gossamer Albatross flew from England to France [LINK] Also [LINK] To the downvoters: haters gonna hate, hackers gonna hack
Cites yurisagalov · 2012-05 · on “Atlas: A Human-Powered Helicopter”
This project is from the same team that recently set the Guinness World Record by building a Human Powered Ornithopter ( [this video] )
Cites pygy_ · 2012-05 · on “Atlas: A Human-Powered Helicopter”
> Where is the difference to a glider? It sustained altitude and speed for a while (short of 20 seconds). See this: [this video]
Cites antipurist · 2026-01 · on “Reality crushed Ÿnsect startup that had raised over $600M for insect farming”
Human-carrying birds have been built. Piloted ornithopter: [LINK] Human-powered ornithopter: [this video] Also, Quetzalcoatlus northropi could've been powerful enough to carry a human.