This bird-inspired drone is more energy efficient and proficient at complex flight maneuvers

I wonder how it does around windows.

Xelions said:

@captaincranky I completely agree that a birds requirement for flight is very different to humans needs. Regardless our flight tech is still fairly primitive. Obviously our main requirements are for transporting people/cargo from a-b efficiently and effectively. Having aircraft use less space for landing and takeoff would be a start.

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Look, an ant can lift 50 times its own weight.. So, in light of that, any comparison between human and animals relative strength falls flat.

The state of our aviation technology is far from "primitive". We have hundreds to thousands of airfoil profiles, all based on lift to drag profiles. Now, unless we advance to the point of wings that can operate in a fluid profile state, the takeoff distances we have are likely to remain as they are.

Wing loading to thrust availability is a hard, fast arbiter of takeoff distances. Many times I've seen F-16s charge down the runway in full afterburn, pull up, and proceed to do at least 11 vertical rolls. So, is the ship actually "flying", or is it riding its initial inertia plus the exhaust gas column thrust. A jet engine can't keep this up indefinitely, as at a certain altitude, it will run out of oxygen and flame out. Not to mention that kerosene only has so many calories, or BTUs, per gallon.

Advances in material science are advancing aviation science. More and more carbon fiber is being used in lieu of metals in aircraft construction. It's got a higher strength to weight ration than most, (to all?) metals.

At the end of the day, four factors have the most profound effect on powered flight, (if not flight in general). Thrust to weight, and lift to drag, "conspire" to thwart the omnipresent gravity.

Arguably, you could stick afterburners on an airliner and get it off the ground a' hellin'. But, you wouldn't have any fuel left for the rest of the flight. Not to mention the fat lady in the 11th row might have a heart attack from the g forces involved. High lift airfoils, (as in gliders), also carry a penalty of high drag. So,they're a dead end if you want to fly at 500+ knots as do airliners.

Various bird based solutions for flight control have been tried and discarded as impractical. Notably, wing warping for directional control.

Reasonably, as the Wright brother's first flight was in 1903, and we were on the moon by the 1970's, I'd say "primitive" is a bit harsh.

@captaincranky

Are you in the aviation sector or an engineer?

You just proved my point with some credit. We are restricting ourselves to winged aircraft. Our tech is primitive - go watch some scifi seriously.

Plus+ to the fat lady joke facing extra Gs!

We haven't been back to the moon lol that says a lot. Even our rocket engine designs are still lame.

I'm not going to get into full commentary mode - governments and private investments always focus on very specific technology subsets. So for eg. Lithium -type batteries are so prevalent and continue to be because the money and tax breaks thrown into that technology has been astronomical and that any other superior battery would just be squashed out of the market - we are driven by capitalist fundamentals interested in hugh returns and not better technology. Yes we are primitive in many areas, some have even remain quite stagnant too.

For all we know, in 50 years there might not be a single winged plane around.