Part 3: The Light Stuff (human-powered flight)
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- It's sad that this excellent documentary about recreating the mythical flight of Daedalus with modern technology is no longer available. So I am putting it up.
If you like this video, you will also enjoy the story of the MacCready family's original development of human-powered flight. The video and audio on the UA-cam version are dreadful, but if you like it you can buy a beautifully remastered DVD.
• F-0056 Flight of the G...
Maybe a few kg lighter or a little bit stronger, but most of the materials they used have only progressed a little bit today. Nobody has even got close since then, it was truly an exceptional effort.
Can you imagine coming that far only to crash into the water yards from the beach?
Poseidon couldn't resist, he wanted that plane. :)
If I was Poseidon I would too.
here in 2020, as an amateur cyclist there is already so much more we know about human physiology - and nutrition, i'm sure a lot came from this project. the computation and materials sciences we have now can be seen in the early stages of these episodes. Thanks for making this doc available..
Yes, so true
what a plot twist ending xD!
This was done 26 years ago, imagine if today's technology was applied!
I try to Imagine..
It is a dream for me to fly on my own Muscle Power.
I'm been Hangglider Pilot and Bicycle experienced.
And now I'm constructing Things on my CAD.
I should try such Stuff..
Japan does it every year in Biwako Birdman Rally. The latest champion has achieved 60 km, closest distance ever been flown to this record.
Take that people who cant imagine, now imagine their faces, one of them punched me, he was so mad
And yet it was the Gossamer Albatross that inspired them all.
Japan does that every year without any help of NASA nor Navy
This video had my attention through every step of the way. The amount of energy from all involved was amazing. To think of how many people all worked together for so many hours to make it all possible , it's just awesome . We need more events like this to bring the world together for a positive common goal. It does suck that he didn't make it though. They say close doesn't count except in hand grenades and horshoes, but I think we can make an exception here.
One of the best aircraft documentary I have seen so far, along the ones on the B777 and on the JSF from NOVA as well.
It's nice to see that some of the people involved in this project are now big shot in the field of aeronautics, like Drela or Langford.
Glad he was wise enough not to fly too close to the sun... Melts the mylar covering....
Duh, the higher you go the colder it gets...
@rick57hart I have seen some videos from groups experimenting with human-powered flight, but nothing even remotely as ambitious as the Daedalus Project. The effort has withstood the passage of time. It's good to see other people around the world are still as interested in it as I am.
Slater
Name plane "Daedalus"
Plan flight in Crete, Greece
Location provides 3 good days of weather yearly
Train 5 pilots on rotation schedule (2 days on, 6 days off)
Pilots on 40 day cycle
Of the 5 pilots one is Greek
The Greek pilot is Countries Top Cyclist
Flight starts with tail wind, ending in crash with 90 deg cross (gusting)
...
I just love a good story. Thx
My comment is not intended to replace anything that the Daedalus Team would say about flying in the summer. I have flown hang gliders since the 1970's, so my experience is that in the summer the air is more turbulent and less laminar as a rule. The probability of structural failure in turbulent winds might have been a factor.
"Looking refreshed after his swim." That was a clever line.
what a mind blowing experience, very cool documentary.
+Enhanced Pyrotechnics Very COOL indeed!!
True, hot air is indeed less dense, therefore less lift at a given speed. However, by that logic, there would also be less air resistance. Jets actually fly more efficiently in the upper atmosphere where the air is very thin because there is less friction. Obviously, powerful, fast jet flight is very different from human-powered flight, and I don't know how that applies to slow flight.
They've proven that the craft ends up too fragile. You need really ideal conditions and it was extraordinary that they got as good the weather that they did... but it couldn't last. At the end, the wind picked up and challenged the air frame, based on the direction Daedelus had to go and---SNAP.
However, the test was technically a success. I think the next test should be a combination of human and solar power. Imagine the possibilities with the pilot being able to take short breaks.
Man if I was the piolt I would have been so pissed off at not getting to land, considering how near he was, but this flight was still amazing. Why aren't we doing it again, let get a move on and build another Daedalus.
Daedalus becomes Icarus, what a flight, The Myth came alive in land that created it . Great Flight and well done Kanellos !
By the way: The mythical Daedalus made it to refuge from crete by using selfmade wings, and made it to santorini. Didn`t Kanellos made the same? From my point of view this was a successful flight, and also a successful record-trial.
Thank you for uploading. I read the book The Fullness of Wings about this project after my daughter met John Langford through Team America Rocketry Challenge. I blazed through the book and was hooked - even not being an engineer type. What an amazing accomplishment. I have stood below the craft in the DC airport and just been awed by the creativity, knowledge, and skill of the team that created it.
@rick57hart To save weight, the crashed plane did not have ailerons to control bank and maintain level wings. Instead, it had dihedral (Diedergruppe) upsweep (Kurve nach oben), but there was not enough.So they fixed the plane, allowed more dihedral and it worked well.
Thank you for posting this! I remember this was pretty big news back in the US when it happened. We only had 3 TV channels in 1988, and no internet. So everyone was on the same info stream. Amazing achievement using 1988 technology. Even in 2023, the Daedalus still holds the record for human-powered flight, in both time and distance.
Thanks Eric. You might also like this earlier effort by the MacCready clan ua-cam.com/video/l4wlC1Qex8A/v-deo.html
@@sciencetoymaker Wow fantastic! Thank you!
This film was so beautiful and serene! Thank you Slater for preserving it. Great effort and spirit of the Daedalus team.
When they got the right kind of carbon fiber, the airplane weight was about 31 kg.
MIT geniuses thought it was a good idea to not have ailerons :-|
Because it's unnecessary weight... c:
Just stick your hands out the window, now curve em slightly, boom! The ailerons that god gave you.
you know I thought about this the whole time... like why can a hang glider seem to be able to do all this with ease... and shouldn't headwind be a good thing allowing the pilot to do less work?
All good points. Hotter air does make it thinner and does give less resistance, but for propeller planes, that results in the propeller having less air each time it "bites." Pilots are cautioned on hot and heavy takeoffs because it takes much longer to reach takeoff airspeed.
This was apparently done long ago, but it's still very inspiring!
At low speed, low air density is bad for you. Take of speed must be increased on high altitude airports and on hot day. That why the conditions in Afghanistan are pretty bad even for military aircraft.
@rick57hart Yes, I agree. The drama at the end made the story even richer.
Slater
I wanted to do this 60 years ago but my wife said I was out of my mind She also said nobody would buy water
He pedaled all that way only to realise he forgot his passport so couldn't land.
Thanks for posting. I saw this when I was young and made a zillion planes out of styrofoam plates and saran wrap. Made my parents crazy.
This docu just never gets old. Every time I watch it I think about different things.
Absolutely amazing. Amazing how the smaller things in life (most people today would see this an aimless venture) are the most incredible. And to imagine what we could do now, I have to search around to see what else has been done.
Fantastic, unbelievable !!
Lance Armstrong would have flown that thing across the Atlantic.
Bryan Gatlin with or without doping?
"With" haha... it's like using premium gasoline in the tank.
He would flown it to the moon. You know, "one small step for man"
This is a classic adventure with a great ending! Thanks for making this video available, Slater!!
Thanks Phil, ' hope you all are well.
mmm as a glider pilot I know that full left rudder results in a very slow correction, maybe in a powered aircraft with short wings it can work faster but in a long winged glider its left stick not left rudder or you going to wait a long time for the correction.
@sciencetoymaker thank you very much for your soon response. dihedral was the word that i didnt got. do you know, if someone tried a new distance record ? 115 km is realy a giant distance and pedaling for 6 hours must be close to torture, but on the other hand, 24 years has gone by, maybe someone tried it. i didnt heard about it. Thanks a lot Richard.
Very cool! One hell of an accomplishment!
Although not expressly stated, it might have been that athletes don't last as long in hot weather. Also, the hot weather might be associated with more wind.
Great documentary can’t believe I have never seen this on UK tv.
Thanks for posting.
I wonder if with new materials this could be made even better? Also what about a plane that would use not only the legs but the hands as well? It would allow for a higher resistance that would still be easier to handle with both the hands and legs, and as a result a higher propeller speed... As for the controls, there could be some levers on the hand pedal set, and/or a helmet with strings as well as torso controlled movements.. Maybe modern technologies would even allow for increased sturdiness of the construction without weight gain, as well as less weight for the radio in the cockpit?
+mkzhero I agree, technology enables records to be broken!
Because the limiting factor is not his muscular endurance but cardiovascular endurance. Adding hands wouldn't help.
The cyclists are hot!!
A 200W brushless motor and fex some few 6000mAh lipos from hobbyking and you are good to go without taking a single pedal stroke.
EYEBROW at 6:50
watch?v=RD4amc-S88I
When this cyclist stopped he couldn't lift his arms. The pouring of water over him made an immediate difference. Seems that the main problem isn't Glucose or ATP shortage, but overheating
Sheiße!!! Fifty meters from shore!!! The only Nova documentary more frustrating is Last Flight of the Kee Bird.
When can we buy tickets to fly as passengers? ha Just use 4-6 athletes pedaling their asses off for passenger flights.
Awesome video!
You could try, but it wouldn't be particularly useful. Weight is a function of how gravity acts on an object's mass. Unless you go to Mars or a body with less gravity the weight will remain the same. And in fact by adding helium to the wings you've added a not insignificant amount of mass to the craft which despite being less dense than air, will actually make the craft just slightly heavier and make it perform worse. In reality, you might as well make it a pedal powered zeppelin.
Did this guy just say hind sight is 2020? My guy 2020 was a bad year..... glad its in all of our hind sight.
There is more turbulence in hot weather plus the pilots are sealed in a plastic bubble before they leave, that little hole they crawl out of is closed in flight. Ever sit in a car on a hot day with the windows up? Even a Cessna gets pretty hot inside with the vents open when it's 100 degrees outside and bangs around like it's on bad pavement.
Jet engines fly at higher altitude due to colder atmosphere and therefore increases the efficiency of jet engines due to faster heat loss. Propeller engines need higher density to create thrust and therefore, in a hot environment, its efficiency will drop. You can't compare propeller engines and jet engines as they have different properties and calculations for efficiency.
With that attitude we would never have accomplished anything as a spiecies, starting with finding out what's behind that next hill (maybe we shouldn't go, there might be dragons) thousands of years ago, to putting a man IN THE FRIGGING SPACE. I guess you're just one of those people who consider "have an interesting life" to be a curse.
when its hot, there is less air molecules per unit volume hence less propulsion force
those people should've moved out of the way faster, trying to slip by the guards? What the heck, let the man land.
Unfortunately my english is not good enough to get all the words of the narrater. From 2:50 he is talhing aböut the ailerons, dihydro? and upsweep? Can you send me the words from this part? or all the words? thanks a lot. Richard
I remember watching this on _NOVA_ in the late 1980s. It was pretty mesmerizing.
they should have used a cyclist, this guy was built bigger than i would have thought.
my legs are bigger and im sure i weigh less. And todays carbon nanotube structures could be stronger and lighter.
What a great accomplishment! A first rate team, perseverance, and choosing the right time to make the flight. The Greek people got what they wanted.
a man can pull up a 1hp equivalnt hp, if he used a 2hp electric engine. he could have flied forever with a better wing structure, of course
"their worst fears were realized" - they weren't afraid of someone falling to their death?
the poject doesn't deserve a single world record putting mens life to risk, total engineering failure, the whole flight was based on pure luck
When was the last time you saw pro cyclists without helmets lol
King Whombat long distance cyclists don't wear helmets much. they wear caps mostly.
Umm.. professionals don't need helmets. Just like they don't need training wheels.
My friend used aroudn 2 000 usd to make a human powered plane using cheap simple materials.
Does anyone know why they couldn't fly when it got hotter during the summer? Wind? Air pressure? Why did the narrator state that?
Rudder and evevator only on a 112ft wing. Bold move.
they should get pilots from Tarahumara - a Mexican tribe of super-runners.
One to TWO Styrofoam sheets and vertical stab,jump on
sorry.. but the simple fact of the matter is that you didnt complete the flight. the record can still be broken.
well if you fly at 10 feet with a 40 foot wing youre gonna crash
Full right rudder. The aircraft was slicing through the wide sidewards.
The technology and engineering that went into its development was on the cutting edge at the time and required the attention of people who were top experts in their respective fields. No one had ever done what they intended to do before so they had to develop the aircraft from the ground up. Besides, aviation isn't cheap no matter what you're doing. For comparison, a Cessna 172, the single most manufactured model of airplane ever and one of the simplest, costs ~$250,000 new.
I have an idea... wing warping...like they did in ww1 with the single winged Fokker.
What a great flight, great team and great achievement !!!
22:35 It looks like the gust and the rudder control input to the right at the same time created a torsion at the tail structure and it broke the tail structure. The area of rudder above the " fuselage tube " looks bigger than the area below. It generates rudder torsion during rudder inputs or side gust wind during flight.
Perhaps they could have some extra strength and reduced weight by lightly pressurizing the structural tubes with 14.7 PSI of hydrogen or Helium.... or even 2 Atmospheres of those gasses (29.4 PSI)
@@kd5txo Yes, that is an interesting idea.
Also to avoid torsion of the tail tube when rudder is applied , the area of rudder should be the same above and below the tail tube.
Reliving a Greek myth takes an effort of mythic proportions, as NOVA reveals in its behind-the-scenes report of a human powered-flight across the Aegean Sea, a journey that symbolically recreated the mythical flight of Daedalus. NOVA follows the epic journey of the human-powered plane Daedalus 88 from the early prototypes to its dramatic landing in the surf after a 74-mile flight from the island of Crete to Santorini.
brilliant achievement but can you please pronounce Daedalus properly (day-da-lus)?
I heard that the in-flight service is not that good.
I had read this story before, but it was much better being able to watch this. Thanks so much for uploading the video. Bill Kuhl Inspires me to finish my Allegro Lite sailplane.
At 21:00 I found myself jumping on my chair and yelling some Hurraaah...! like if my fatherland achievement.
Is the next thing will be pedals on passenger aeroplanes for each passenger ?
*_Wowsers_*
Hot air has less lift than cold air.. Less airmolecules pr. cubic-whatever.
Amazing.
c130 for 2 80lb planes.... kinda ironic...
hahah ive lived in crete...yall are funny
Wouldn't right rudder have been more appropriate before the crash?
Thanks a lot. I think, I got it now. except: ie bent up=upswept
Awesome stuff. I love anything human powered and human powered flight is no exception.
woudnt it be better if it had a propeller under the plane also?
The beach should have been cleared of people. I think the pilot was worried of hitting the people.
airspeed MINUS headwind equals ground speed. The pilot simply couldn't make it before failure, the plane was traveling as fast as it possibly could towards the beach, the headwind gust and rudder input of him TRYING to make the beach caused the failure.
@clemofish Vielen Dank. Dihedral war das Wort, dass ich nicht erkannt hatte. Mir hat auch ein slater von scienctoymaker auf Englisch geantwortet. Kannst Du dessen Antwort eigentlich auch sehen?
oh man that just made my heart sink when that wing snapped... Has there been many attempts since then?
Wow, 00:15:46 Steve had a recumbent bicycle back in the 80's
Air density also applies for propeller - the thicker the air, the more efficient propeller. Also, with the higher air density you get more benefits for lift than penalty for drag.
I'm glad that they made it and that the pilot was safe. I consider him getting to shore safely a successful flight since the legend is about escape and not about transporting a plane. Way to go Daedalus Project team!
Thank you huge from a bike rider.
Mike
I miss the times when the sky was the limit of human capability and innovation. Something that Walt Disney dreamed ever day of his life about and what Tomorrowland once exemplified.
Have they retried this with todays technology? I would imagine what we have not a days is much stronger and much lighter.
hot air is less dense so the plane gets less lift
Crash was absolutely pathetic
whats in the drink?/