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Anyone ever mid-air with a bird?
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03-04-2014, 04:52 AM
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xlcrlee
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this bird is a good pilot .,... and avoids midairs!!
"And now for something completely different" [Monty Python's Flying Circus] >
If you check frame-by-frame [easiest to see in Delta vid], you can see he's actually steering [within constraints of tether and/or gravity] ... and no just hanging on & "riding".
Lee
Kiki Flies His Delta
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBlU9bXz_Pg
Kiki's Flying Carpet [also INVERTED!]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezdpoMFtKrQ
Kiki Playing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciHQbJupRis
Totally Kiki [all of the above 3 videos strung together]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5IwE0SJLII
more info
>
As indicated in the YouTube text you can jog the video/s frame-by-frame to inspect Kiki's continual steering input to the gliders. Easiest to see in the Delta vid: for ex., in the
un
-tethered landing sequences note his body & tail go nearly
vertical
as he prepares to flare the landing [
as I'm saying "Up!"
].
Careful observation of the videos shows that he seems to very rapidly use his body position + posture to provide the same control inputs as would an experienced human pilot [
within the constraints of the tether and/or gravity
]. Some is instinct, some, my teaching, and some just being smart ....!
Further, if you turn up the volume and listen closely you can hear him happily whistle during many of the seemingly crazy/hard parts [like hanging sideways during some of the tethered Carpet starts and in the "wingover/loops" ]. Obviously
not
crazy for a fun-loving experienced acrobatic/aerobatic bird with wings always at the ready to instantly "save" him if needed.
Frame-by-frame note an interesting avian technique as he makes high-speed/hot landing approaches using his own wings at the beginning of the Kiki Playing vid. He seems to be making extremely rapid micro S-turn glide-slope corrections [all our birds do this
macro
, easily seen]. It's a kind of very quick tail-waggle yaw "doublet". Stoplet?
Could be just the effect of differential wing-thrust moving the tail, or a conscious effort to raise the tail's Rn. Dunno.
But I do know that besides being a real good guy, Kiki is an excellent flier in the natural bird.way. Sometimes with wingtip feathers only bare millimeters from the walls during 50KPH circular room chases [he allows more space when going more straight-line room-to-room].
L
..
addendum > for total CG changes and control-force calculations:
Kiki: 43g, CG slightly behind his grip w.r.t. natural perch position [on yellow stick]
Delta: 23g, CG halfway up vert. member, in vert. line w/tether point at top of that member
Carpet: 21g, CG over underside cross-member, tether point at perch
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