Icarus riding on paddleboats [Video]

Since time immemorial, man’s desire to fly has kept on inspiring him to think about various ways of adding wings to his imagination and his physical being. The journey that started with Icarus is still on the move. The wings of Icarus made way for parachutes, hang gliders, helicopters, aero planes, and the quest hasn’t yet vanished. Modern man being technologically so superior to his predecessors is now all set to write a novel chapter of taking to the air. Inspired by a wacky aircraft design of the late 19th century, the scientists are working on its fruition. Lim Kah Bin and Hu Yu at the National University of Singapore have partially succeeded in preparing one. The basic principle propelling the functioning of cyclogyro has its roots in the lift and thrust that its wings produce. Rotation of wings decides the forward, backward or the down movement depending upon the change in angle. The aircraft can spin and fly on the tether. The duo is now thinking about attaching a tail rotor to the tether to lend it stability.

Daniel Weihs, an aerospace engineer at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology (TIIT), Haifa believes that adding four cycloidal propellers can replace a tail rotor. Well does he assert the need of structures-light, but strong enough to handle the thrust generated. No doubt, man has made yet another advance but its hard to digest that cyclogyro would be able to fly across half a yard. Only the time can reveal what is hidden in its womb.

Source: New Scientist