HPO Team News

Since it's successful flight on August 2nd the Snowbird has been moved to the Canadian Air and Space Museum to be put on display sometime in 2013. In October 2012 the FAI officially certified the flight as the world's first flight of a human-powered ornithopter (http://www.fai.org/awards/fai-general-awards).

On July 31st and August 2nd, 2010 the Snowbird succeeded in completing several sustained flights!! On the longest flight the altitude and airspeed were maintained for 19.3 seconds, setting a world first, and achieving the age-old aeronautical dream of self-powered flapping wing flight! The accomplishment of our goal is a success shared by all, and I must thank everyone who was involved for their help, sponsorship, advice, or simply for their interest in our project, which has motivated us when times where hard.

Please check out the media section of our website for pictures and video.

Apologies again for the lack of news updates. In September and October of 2009 we were rushing against the clock to get the ornithopter in the air before the cold weather closed in. Amazingly with the help of many volunteers, we did it. We succeeded in making 11 flights, culminating with a controlled full-power flight where for a brief two strokes the aircraft seemed tantalizingly close to maintaining altitude.

Apologies for the lack of news updates. Truth is, we’ve just been busy building! The spar, ribs and truss structure of both wings have been assembled and are awaiting sheeting, covering and a few more final touches. We would like to extend a huge welcome to Carson Dueck, the newest member of our team that flew in all the way from Vancouver last month to lend a hand! Next week: the wing mating ceremony, and more pictures to come!

May has been incredibly busy here at the Nest in Tottenham. The team has been creating the tools and work environment necessary to make history this summer. Our workplace has undergone a serious makeover and perhaps could make a run for barn of the year. Set-ups for aluminum etching, wing construction, and fuselage forming have all been completed and have been put into action. The focus has now shifted from testing to design finalization with more finely tuned airfoils on the way, as well as air frame components for the fuselage.

The Human-Powered Ornithopter Project will be hiring students for summer internships effective May 4th to August 31st. The goal for the summer is to finish construction and successfully fly the world first human-powered flapping-wing aircraft. The work will primarily involve highly-specialized construction with wood, foam and various composite materials as well as flight preparation and testing. The team will be living together during this time in a house near the hangar in Tottenham, located at Great Lakes Gliding Club, roughly one hour north of Toronto.

Midway through the month of November we're working hard in our new workspace downtown. We're focusing on improving our construction techniques and working on producing a functional simulator. With good luck and our team motivation we'll be ready to fly this coming summer!

The team biographies have been completed now, and we're adding multimedia regularly. Check back soon for the new additions and links to our Flickr site!

Welcome to the new HPO website. It will be updated regularly with news regarding the progress of the team's design and construction. Also, we will be posting photos and media from our work and experimentation.

Please be patient as we expand and finalize our fledgling webpage.

Come back soon for our September 21 website launch. We'll have a variety of updates regarding the team, as well as educational media for those unfamiliar. In the future weekly updates with photos will keep you up to date with all the accomplishments of the team!