Studying the flight of birds to inspire radical aircraft innovations
For this BCI session I decided to stay in my own backyard. There are usually many different animals around, and today was no disappointment. I heard and studied a hummingbird, some wasps, a grey squirrel, some white butterflies a pair of cardinals and a group of robins.
As most of the animals I saw were flying, I started noticing their different strategies to accomplish and master this function. The hummingbird always fascinates, with its fast beating, figure-eight-drawing wing movement, allowing it to not only fly and maneuver, but also to hover completely still while feeding on flowers. The wasps seemed to use similar techniques, so I focused my attention on the bigger birds. A couple of cardinals were crossing “my” air space every few minutes, and I noticed a pattern in their wing movement. A few hectic beats and then they fold the wings flat along the body a glide fast through the air. This is repeated until they get close to where they land. At this point they unfold their wings and glide to a stop. I am not sure if they always do this, but I saw it several times today.
I started wondering about aeroplane design. It seems that most of the radical innovation in that field took place a hundred years ago. I am sure many people would disagree with this statement, but it seems to me, we developed the aircraft in the midst of the industrial revolution and fuel burning engines was a relatively easy way of getting airborne. Once we were down that path, it has not been easy to steer away from it. But maybe in the future we will have to?
I have read about Paul MacCready´s bicycle-powered one person plane from the seventies (see picture below) and looking at these birds, I started wondering, that if we were to radically re-invent the aircraft today, would it still be a massive metal box with heavy jet fuel engines? Or would we use our current knowledge of energy, pollution, and global warming and think differently?
As most of the animals I saw were flying, I started noticing their different strategies to accomplish and master this function. The hummingbird always fascinates, with its fast beating, figure-eight-drawing wing movement, allowing it to not only fly and maneuver, but also to hover completely still while feeding on flowers. The wasps seemed to use similar techniques, so I focused my attention on the bigger birds. A couple of cardinals were crossing “my” air space every few minutes, and I noticed a pattern in their wing movement. A few hectic beats and then they fold the wings flat along the body a glide fast through the air. This is repeated until they get close to where they land. At this point they unfold their wings and glide to a stop. I am not sure if they always do this, but I saw it several times today.
I started wondering about aeroplane design. It seems that most of the radical innovation in that field took place a hundred years ago. I am sure many people would disagree with this statement, but it seems to me, we developed the aircraft in the midst of the industrial revolution and fuel burning engines was a relatively easy way of getting airborne. Once we were down that path, it has not been easy to steer away from it. But maybe in the future we will have to?
I have read about Paul MacCready´s bicycle-powered one person plane from the seventies (see picture below) and looking at these birds, I started wondering, that if we were to radically re-invent the aircraft today, would it still be a massive metal box with heavy jet fuel engines? Or would we use our current knowledge of energy, pollution, and global warming and think differently?
Current aircraft have truly been maximized rather than optimized. Maximum range. Maximum speed. Minimum travel time. Maximum capacity. etc.
What if we optimized the design to suit local needs? I often get stuck in traffic in the Chicago area, and sometimes look up to the skies at all that space! What if my family had a small lightweight, four seater, bicycle/solar - powered plane to lift us above the traffic? What if we could glide by everybody without polluting? (I am sure other would want to do the same...)
I know this sounds radical. Maybe even crazy. But the birds do it so easily! Even the big heavy ones. The science of shaping the cross section of the aircraft wings to create uplift originally came from zoology. Maybe we should continue this study of bird and wing design to radically change our way of flying? And change it in a more sustainable direction.
Note:
MacCready is far from the only one to have succeeded in human powered flight, but we have yet to take this idea from the "Engineering Challenge Stage" to really thinking about it in terms of solving some of the issues our industrial age has created.
/Christian