3 ms·

Sustained human powered flight wasn't achieved by top engineering teams until the late 20th century. It can't be done without at least aluminum and lightweight

Sustained human powered flight wasn't achieved by top engineering teams until the late 20th century. It can't be done without at least aluminum and lightweight plastics. Engine powered flight is much easier and done a century earlier. Yet it still required steel working and internal combustion engine technologies. Small Pacific islands are just not likely to provide access to the necessary iron ore and oil deposits. But I don't fault them for trying.

iofj 11y ago
You don't need sustained human powered flight, you could simply launch a glider. And yes, there are wooden gliders. Suppose this guy had cargo culted freight planes: [1]. The wings he used were rubbish and how he controlled them was even more rubbish. Don't you think he would have done much better had he seen a flying cargo plane ? (Especially given that this guy's huge mistake, that sadly killed him, was lack of a tail on his glider. Or if you think that back part is a tail, the distance between the wing and the tail is too small for it to work as a tail) Aviation is like Greek science : for a millenium it was stuck in a local optimum. They had seen a working wing design (bird wings) and imitated them, and kept imitating them, failure after failure after failure after failure after failure after failure, for close to a thousand years, or ore if you believe that Daedalus and/or Archytas actually tried it. And while Daedalus sounds a bit incredible, Archytas is just barely on the side of what is achievable. It took someone touring Europe demonstrating a circus trick (lifting a man) with a kite imported from China to make them realize their mistake, or at least make them try something even slightly different. Then, having seen the kites lift people, people tried other wing designs it suddenly took off : less than 50 years until we had stable gliders (God help whoever tries to use a kite for flying, something I learned as a 7 year old. Umbrellas work better, at least stability wise, until they break), another 70 years until we had stable powered flight. Another 15 years and we had commercial airlines and weaponized airplanes. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Lilienthal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Lilienthal

iofj 11y ago

You don't need sustained human powered flight, you could simply launch a glider. And yes, there are wooden gliders. Suppose this guy had cargo culted freight planes: [1]. The wings he used were rubbish and how he controlled them was even more rubbish. Don't you think he would have done much better had he seen a flying cargo plane ? (Especially given that this guy's huge mistake, that sadly killed him, was lack of a tail on his glider. Or if you think that back part is a tail, the distance between the wing and the tail is too small for it to work as a tail) Aviation is like Greek science : for a millenium it was stuck in a local optimum. They had seen a working wing design (bird wings) and imitated them, and kept imitating them, failure after failure after failure after failure after failure after failure, for close to a thousand years, or ore if you believe that Daedalus and/or Archytas actually tried it. And while Daedalus sounds a bit incredible, Archytas is just barely on the side of what is achievable. It took someone touring Europe demonstrating a circus trick (lifting a man) with a kite imported from China to make them realize their mistake, or at least make them try something even slightly different. Then, having seen the kites lift people, people tried other wing designs it suddenly took off : less than 50 years until we had stable gliders (God help whoever tries to use a kite for flying, something I learned as a 7 year old. Umbrellas work better, at least stability wise, until they break), another 70 years until we had stable powered flight. Another 15 years and we had commercial airlines and weaponized airplanes. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Lilienthal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Lilienthal