If you reach for the barfbag even at the slightest bit of turbulence during a flight, you will never want to climb aboard here Russian device that uses flapping wings to flyBut it shows that Mother Nature’s designs are as large as possible to one day revolutionize air travel.
This isn’t the first time we’ve managed to reverse engineer how airborne creatures like insects and birds take to the skies. In fact, mechanical ornithopters (planes that fly using a flapping wing mechanism) are so common that people have been building elastic versions out of balsa wood and paper for years. For $ 40 you can get a remote control robotic bird that is surprisingly agile for toys. What’s impressive about this device called Serenity that looks like it was based on one of them Da Vinci’s many sketches of potential flying machines, is the scale.
The Russia-built ornithopter is proof that a flight wing approach is not only an option for small insects or birds whose skeletal structure and bodies are designed to be as lightweight as possible. With a fuselage that appears to be about 10 feet long, three sets of flapping wings, and all the mechanisms, connections, wires and batteries needed to create the flapping motion, Serenity easily outweighs even the largest flying creatures we have on Earth . It doesn’t seem big enough to accommodate a human passenger or pilot just yet, but that’s just a matter of scale and funding – future versions of Serenity could be even bigger.
The constant up and down movement of the wings makes Serenity look like it will provide a bumpy ride for anyone trying to climb aboard, but in the same way, birds can keep their heads steady while flapping their wings like crazy, no doubt that is a complication that can be overcome with more engineering. But why bother when planes work fine?
Modern airplanes rely on forward motion to create lift over their wings and stay in the air, which is provided by jet engines or propellers that create thrust – both very noisy solutions. It also means that planes have a minimum speed that they must maintain or else they will get stuck and fall from the sky. Using the motions of an airplane’s wings to generate lift opens up incredible potential for maneuverability, like anyone who has seen a dragonfly shoot around chasing mosquitoes, or a hummingbird gently drinking from a flower while still in the flight can testify. Serenity is nowhere near being able to float in mid-air, and even the ability to steer is limited, but it shows exciting potential. Will a Boeing 777 ever flap its giant wings? Probably not, but flapping wings may be a safer alternative to strapping a jet engine to people’s backs as a personal flight solution.