Ornithopter: 500 Years in the Making
| Published 12/3/04

Graphic by: Jenny Conner

For about 500 years, ingenious individuals have been trying to create a self-powered mechanical flying machine that achieves lift and thrust by the flapping of wings. And, for about 500 years, each of those ingenious individuals have failed. Such a contraption is called an "Ornithopter," the name given to it after its original conceptualization by Leonardo da Vinci. Now, at the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers flight, developers at the University of Toronto's Institute for Aerospace Studies have built a working Ornithopter that they plan to showcase at the 2006 Olympic Games in Italy.

Professor James DeLaurier led the project. "There was a Leonardo da Vinci book in our home, and I fell in love with the pictures and fantasized about taking flight one day in a self-propelled flying machine," DeLaurier says of his childhood inspiration for his work. In the 1970's, DeLaurier met Jeremy Harris, a fellow Ornithopter enthusiast and research engineer. The two developed the Ornithopter as a hobby, and when DeLaurier joined the University of Toronto, he began to develop serious flight tests. DeLaurier's finished Ornithopter is now recognized by the Federation Aeronautique International (FAI) as the first successful engine-powered piloted Ornithopter.

The team plans to showcase the Ornithopter at the Turin, Italy Olympic Games in February 2006, in hopes to develop interest in Ornithopter flight as a sporting event. After more tests and more fundraising, the first self-powered flying machine will be ready for showcase.

According to the project's official website, the Ornithopter works like this:

"The full-scale ornithopter is an engine powered aircraft that carries one pilot. All of the thrust and nearly all of the lift is created by the mechanical flapping of the ornithopter's wings. The two wings of the craft are joined by a centre section which is moved up and down by pylons connected to the drivetrain. The wings' thrust is due primarily to a low-pressure region around the leading edge, which integrates to provide a force known as "leading-edge suction". The wings also passively twist in response to the flapping. This is due to a structure that is torsionally compliant in just the right amount to allow efficient thrusting ("aeroelastic tailoring"). It should be noted, though, that twisting is required only to prevent flow separation on sections along the wing. It does not produce thrust in the same way as required by sharp-edged wings with little leading-edge suction."

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