Ornithopter

An ornithopter is an aircraft that flies by wing-flapping. Many examples exist in nature such as birds, bats and insects. Man-made ornithopters are usually small-scale models.

A flying man-made ornithopter was built by AeroVironment Inc. for the Smithsonian Institute as a model of a pterodactyl. Dr. Paul McCready's latest ornithopter research focuses on battery-powered flapping-wing models the size of a large dragonfly or small hummingbird.

Vladimir Toporov and students built a winch-launched ornithopter that could carry a pilot aloft. The Berkeley Micromechanical Flying Insect project is developing bug-sized ornithopters for possible spy assignments. The Colorado Division of Wildlife has used ornithopters to help save endangered Gunnison Sage Grouse. A research project by Georgia Tech scientist Robert Michelson has investigated chemically reactive propulsion similar to chemical muscles in micro-scale aircraft with flapping wings.

The ornithopter is familiar to readers of Frank Herbert as the primary means of on-planet travel by the inhabitants of the Dune universe. Nevertheless it seems unlikely that ornithopters will replace fixed-wing and rotor-powered flight any time soon.