Page 140 - The Origin of Birds and Flight
P. 140
One goal that has literally become a dream for scientists is wing beat-
ing. A hawk beats its wings 2.5 times a second at an angle of 120 degrees,
and a hummingbird 80 times a second, while machines produced by hu-
mans are far from displaying such mobility and flexibility. Engineers have
produced aircraft able to fly over mountains and oceans, yet it is still not
possible for them to ascend by flapping their wings. The University of
Toronto’s ornithopter—a machine designed to carry a human passenger in-
to the air by flapping its wings, in imitation of birds, bats or the pterodactyl,
a flying reptile that lived in prehistoric times—is one model that most close-
ly approaches this ancient aeronautical dream.
Patricia Jones-Bowman, an ornithopter test pilot, says:
