Deadeye

Very interesting story located [link=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4185648.stm]here.[/link]

smokingcrater

my old sky scooter does the same thing, the foam has gotten soft over the years and you can see it flex up at least 15 degrees in a high speed pullup... all that and I saved uncountless $$$ (the amount of carbon fiber on that thing makes it look VERY pricy!)


and may favorite part...

We hobby rc'ers have been doing that for years, don't need a government grant to experiment with that one!

mulligan

I always chuckle when someone "develops" an aircraft to somehow copy bird's flight. Even ornithopters only very crudely mimic bird flight.

This seems like a good PR stunt whereby the UF folks came up with a unique looking wing and gave it a story that the pinhead journalists would eat up.

I am jealous, though, of the aerospace departments of UF and other colleges, including my alma mater, when they get a bunch of government and private money to fund their hobby interests. The concrete airplanes are my personal favorite. Very little research value comes from these investments- a shame really. But I guess it's good PR of the sponsoring organizations for attracting future job applicants.

Jim Thomerson

If you go through the AMA records posted from time to time in Model aviation, you will see that most of the ornathopter records were set by Roy White of ST Louis in the '80's. I used to fly with him and was amazed to see his creations fly.