- [Narrator] Human powered flight is about
as green as it gets.
Add that to dreams of reaching the heavens
and you get the top eight human powered aircraft.
Number eight, the Snowbird.
We as humans have spent centuries trying to fly
before finally developing the technologies needed
to soar with the birds.
And in this time there was a plethora of gadgets,
devices and machines that have been
both failures and successes.
The Snowbird is the first human powered ornithopter,
an aircraft that flies by flapping its wings,
to fly continuously.
The development team was comprised of students and faculty
from the University of Toronto in Canada,
Poitiers University in France,
and Delft Technical Institute in the Netherlands.
Weighing just 94 pounds the Snowbird has a wingspan
of 105 feet which is comparable to that of a Boeing 737.
Its structure comes apart in four pieces
and is made of carbon fiber tubes, foam,
balsa wood and base wood.
It took its maiden flight at the Great Lakes Gliding Club
in Tottenham, north of Toronto, Canada.
It maintained both altitude and airspeed for 19.3 seconds,
covering a distance of 475 feet
at an average speed of 15.9 miles per hour.
Although this aircraft is not
a practical method of transport
it can act as an inspiration to others
to use the strength of their body
and the creativity of their mind to follow their dreams
and think twice about what's possible.
Number seven, the Aerosail.
Adventurer and visionary.
Both of these can be attributed
to Frenchman Stephane Rousson,
the designer and pilot of this entry on our list.
Surprisingly his inspiration and love of aviation
came from having watched the movie E.T. as a child.
This motorless zeppelin, connected to a hydrofoil
and filled with helium gas, is 52 foot long
with a diameter of 16 feet.
It is designed to glide 100 feet in the air
with the pilot suspended underneath
in a semi reclining position,
steering it with two tilting rotors on either side,
and powering the two propellers with his feet
using a bicycle-like contraption.
Rousson has attempted multiple times
to cross the English Channel in the Aerosail,
but as of yet has not succeeded.
In 2014 he attempted to cross the Mediterranean Sea
but it too was thwarted by the weather.
Regardless, we consider this one to be a prime example
of pure adventure and innovation.
Number six, the Daedalus 88.
Named after the mythological inventor of aviation
and father of legendary ill-fated Icarus,
the Daedalus aircraft were the culmination of work
on human flight at MIT.
Dreamed up in 1985 by MIT faculty and student engineers,
the Daedalus 88 featured a technical design
that required aeronautical and design skills
above and beyond the ordinary.
It was constructed with a framework of carbon fiber tubes,
airfoil shaped for the wing and tail elements,
was maintained with a thin polystyrene foam leading edge,
polystyrene ribs, and a Kevlar trailing edge.
Wing skin was Mylar plastic of approximately .3mm thickness.
The bottom portion of the fuselage
and majority of the pilot's seat
were made of Kevlar as well.
In total it still only weighed 69 pounds.
The Daedalus 88 holds the official FAI world records
for total distance, straight line distance
and duration for human powered aircraft
set during a 71.5 mile flight
lasting just short of four hours.
Unfortunately the craft crashed during the landing.
Although the pilot was not hurt
the plane itself was broken into several pieces.
The decision was made to not continue
the Daedalus aircraft line leaving us to wonder
what could have been achieved with another one.
Number five, the Dash PA.
Let me start off this one by pointing out
that the name is an acronym
for dead simple human powered airplane.
The idea behind the Dash was just as straightforward.
To take as efficient an approach as possible to building
a human powered airplane that flies successfully.
It started as a for fun, after hours project
by aviation enthusiast Alec Proudfoot
that has blossomed into an effort
involving hundreds of volunteers and over 12,000 hours.
The original design goals called for a weight of 80 pounds
and a wingspan of 109.3 feet.
It was estimated that it would fly at 14 miles per hour.
Like any design there are modifications made during testing
but at the core of it all the aircraft is essentially
a super light recumbent bicycle with wings.
The project's first flight was in December 2015
at Half Moon Bay Airport in California.
The aircraft flew for 764 feet
while being piloted by Proudfoot.
Although it never got higher than five feet
off of the ground it was still considered a major success.
On one of the last flights
the aircraft was damaged extensively.
It was rebuilt and flown again
but like any project of this magnitude
it remains a daunting task.
Number four, the Ruppert Archeopteryx.
The word archeopteryx literally means first wing,
so it was only fitting that it was named after
the feathered dinosaur that evolved into modern day birds.
The aircraft is a Swiss high wing pod and boom
single seat microlift glider.
It was conceived as a foot launchable microlift sail plane,
with goals of a light empty weight, low stall speed,
good maneuverability and good high speed performance.
The controls are conventional with a stick for ailerons
and elevator and rudder pedals.
The aircraft uses flaps for glide path control
which function as air brakes,
a ballistic parachute was also added for emergencies.
The aircraft can be rigged for flight in 15 minutes
with minimal effort by only one person.
Originally it was launched by foot, bungee, aerotow,
autotow, and a winch launch.
It has been landed on its wheel and foot landed as well.
Electric propulsion was added in mid 2014
to allow for self launching
and a single charge run time of 11 minutes at full power.
As of February 2017 there have been 18 sold
so if you're interested give them a shout.
And who knows?
Maybe this will inspire you to go even further
and create your own human powered aircraft.
Number three, the Gokuraku Tombo.
A group of motorcycle designers
have put their experience to the test in a new field
by developing an ultralight airplane
that's powered only by a simple set of pedals.
Yamaha's Team Aeroscepsy, comprised of 14 engineers
and enthusiasts with an average age of 35 years old
developed a new plane from scratch
just to break the world record for human powered flight.
The Gokuraku Tombo, a phrase that means happy go lucky,
has a wingspan that measures 117 feet tip to tip
and a propeller diameter of almost 9 feet.
It weights a mere 81 pounds due to it's super light
polystyrene foam and carbon fiber construction.
The aircraft can take advantage of thermo air currents
but doesn't need them to launch and fly.
Spokesperson Shinsuke Yano said the team is planning
on having a professional mountain biker act as the engine
for the Gokuraku Tombo aircraft
because you need to keep pedaling with power
that is required for climbing uphill constantly.
Considering that all the assembly work
and test flights for the aircraft are done strictly
on private time outside normal work hours at Yamaha,
you have to hope that this team
has nothing but success in their endeavors.
Number two, the Gossamer Albatross.
The Gossamer Albatross was designed and built
by a team led by Paul B. MacCready,
a noted American aeronautics engineer, designer
and world soaring champion.
The aircraft is a canard configuration
which uses a large horizontal stabilizer forward of the wing
and is powered using pedals
to drive a large two bladed propeller.
It was constructed using a carbon fiber frame
with the ribs of the wings made with expanded polystyrene.
The entire structure was then wrapped in a thin,
transparent Mylar film.
This gave the aircraft an empty mass weight
of only 71 pounds.
To maintain the craft in the air
it was designed with very long tapering wings,
like those of a glider, allowing the flight
to be undertaken with a minimum of power.
On June 12, 1979 the Gossamer Albatross became the first
human powered aircraft to fly across the English Channel.
The flight lasted two hours and 49 minutes
and covered 22.5 miles between England and France.
For this accomplishment the Albatross team won
their second Kremer Prize for human powered aircraft.
MacCready's team ended up building two Albatrosses.
The backup plane was jointly tested as part of
the NASA Langley Dryden Flight Research program
and was also flown inside the Houston Astrodome.
This, by the way, was the first ever
controlled indoor flight by a human powered aircraft.
Number one, the Jinker Flapping Wing.
The Jinker, an acronym for jump induced
kinetic energy rebounder, was created by Niko Pietrek.
It was inspired by birds and experiments with zeppelins,
among other things.
The invention is a light, portable flight apparatus
with a fuselage, a flexible frame,
and downwards curved fixed wings.
The Jinker is started from an elevated place
like a ramp or a hill.
The pilot runs toward the wind
until the ornithopter is carried by the airflow.
He then jumps from behind onto the frame
and he starts to glide first.
After that the pilot initiates the flapping of the wings
by gently jumping on the plane and slowly and rhythmically
increasing the body acceleration and frequency.
The wingspans will range from 29 and a half feet to 49 feet.
The aircraft will have an estimated weight
between 44 and 66 pounds.
It's anticipated that the maximum speed
will be anywhere from 42 to 44 miles per hour.
After several years of continuous work
the current Jinker wing design is now built
and ready to be tested and taken to flight trials.
Pietrek currently has the Jinker featured on Kickstarter
and is seeking funding for his prototype.