From Stuart Henderson
I was interested to read of the efforts to make a person-carrying ornithopter
(7 July, p 34).
However, these may have more success if the aircraft is modelled
not so much on a bird as on a dragonfly. These insects, along with the related
damselflies (order Odonata), are unusual in that they flap their front
pair of wings downward as their rear wings flap upward, and vice versa.
So a dragonfly ornithopter (an odonathopter?) built with two wing pairs
flapping this way would be less likely to bounce up and down as the wings flap.
This would make it easier to take off and land and the pilot would be less
likely to feel sick. There would be a tendency to rock back and forwards in each
flapping cycle, but tail fins could reduce this. It could be further stabilised
by the gyroscopic effect of a flywheel in the drive mechanism.
Farrer, ACT
