World's First Human-Powered Ornithopter
World's First Human-Powered Ornithopter on HackerTube: recommended by 1 Hacker News commenter across 1 month, 2012–2026.
A short clip of the Snowbird, a human-powered ornithopter built by University of Toronto students. On August 2, 2010 it sustained altitude and airspeed for 19.3 seconds, the first such flight.
What HN commenters said
6 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.
knowtheoryMar 2012Strongly recommends
Why not deride the film maker? The problem i have with him is the same problem that i have with all liars. Namely, that the world is such an interesting and fascinating place, that wasting time on hoaxes and stupid "ha ha! i tricked you!" sorts of media is largely pointless. This dude can claim that his effort was really an "experiment" about online media and how to tell a story, but frankly, I think that's bullshit. This guy isn't doing research about what it takes a viral video to study viral videos so that society might better understand how it is that information is passed between members of a network (and there are folks who study this sort of thing). This dude is just trying to make a project of his go viral. I really see very little distinction between this project and any other sort of fame-whoring, save for the amount of effort put in. So, please tell me if you can, why this hoax is an improvement, or even a useful fiction in the face of real science/engineering awesomeness like this: ▶ this video
in “‘Bird Man’ Hoaxster Comes Clean on Dutch Television” · View on HN
antipuristJan 2026Cites it
Human-carrying birds have been built. Piloted ornithopter: [link] Human-powered ornithopter: ▶ this video Also, Quetzalcoatlus northropi could've been powerful enough to carry a human.
in “Reality crushed Ÿnsect startup that had raised over $600M for insect farming” · View on HN
yurisagalovMay 2012Cites it
This project is from the same team that recently set the Guinness World Record by building a Human Powered Ornithopter ( ▶ this video )
in “Atlas: A Human-Powered Helicopter” · View on HN
pygy_May 2012Cites it
> Where is the difference to a glider? It sustained altitude and speed for a while (short of 20 seconds). See this: ▶ this video
in “Atlas: A Human-Powered Helicopter” · View on HN
katovatzschynMar 2012Cites it
The disregard for the physics of the situation is actually quite insulting. The "demonstration" is so far from realistic its not even worth a debunking. Here is an example of what this man is claiming to have done, actually being done, by a team of engineers working for years: ▶ this video
in “Man Supposedly Flies With Custom-Built Bird Wings” · View on HN
6renMar 2012Cites it
Conceptually plausible: the cyclic motion of articulated wings (flapping) seems understood in models e.g. [link] Jarno's idea of a powered exoskeleton wing to provide x20 power is right in principle, but needs light batteries: Prof Otten [link] As comparison, a human-powered articulated wing: ▶ this video A non-articulated wing [link] (18km) And the famous Gossamer Albatross flew from England to France [link] Also [link] To the downvoters: haters gonna hate, hackers gonna hack
in “Man Supposedly Flies With Custom-Built Bird Wings” · View on HN