looks like it was built out of a slingshot kite

[littlejohn]

I have spent a long time thinking and dreaming about exactly what this guy just accomplished. This is just the beginning folks.

Cheers

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/is-this ... diy-wings/

[Denis]

He said that he used a 2004 Slingshot Fuel, 17m.

http://www.humanbirdwings.net/

If it did indeed work, that would be quite an impressive feat! Looking at the video, the wings stay very flat on the upstroke, which would hinder the lift upon take off. A way to get around that is to flex each wing a bit, but that doesn't seem to happen either. I'm not an aerodynamics expert, so I'll let others more qualified to verify the work.

Here's an analysis of the flight dynamics of birds on take off.
http://jeb.biologists.org/content/203/4/725.full.pdf

And here's a paper on what it should look like. Figure 10 shows the bent wings on the upstroke.
http://grail.cs.washington.edu/projects ... listic.pdf

[Barry P]

Excellent papers. Let's cut up some kites and make one!!

The guys is not trying to take off almost vertical like a starling, his pattern is much more like what an Albatross uses... running into the wind with shallow flapping. Watch the video, it looks like they have failed attempts too when they can't get enough airspeed going. Once they get into the air they can fly a long time...

Still - is this real or just a lot of editing?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8ZdtN69xF8[/youtube]

[smrsco]

I'm pretty sure it's a fake. Looks a bit CGI to me...

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/ ... wings-hoax

[jyetley]

This video posted on Sailing Anarchy today shows how difficult building electro-mechanical wings to overcome man's gross weight truely is. I believe this video said the Smartbird has a power to weight ratio of 23W to 400g, showing how critical the power source and force amplification systems must be.

I guess the Netherland's hoax should have been more obvious, but the supporting website is so elaborate.
Fast forward to 13:00 to see the Smartbird in action. A historical first.

http://youtu.be/kA7PNQiHT1Q

[jjmarks2001us]

THIS IS FAKE. I was going to post this until I read on popular science website that it is fake. The man made the video to prove he could get people online to beleave anything. go to popularscience.com and go to like page 2-4 and read about it. Soryy