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Flying Creatures May Inspire Future of Aviation
"Learning the secret of flight from a bird was a good deal like learning the secret of magic from a magician." -- Orville Wright
As the nocturnal owl stalks its prey, a quirk on its wings enables a silent hunt. Fringe-like feathers hang off the bird and muffle the whooshing air. Even a sharp-eared mouse can't hear the owl swoop in.
That lesson in aerodynamics provides a valuable guide for aviation experts who are crafting a new technology. They've incorporated the concept into the Silent Aircraft Initiative, a plan to create a plane that would make no noticeable noise outside an airport.
It has been more than 100 years since the Wright brothers first took flight. Since then, humans have invented jet engines, shattered the sound barrier and created an airline system so safe that accidents have nearly been eliminated.
But as scientists attempt to improve planes of the future, they are finding that super computers and aerodynamic theory are often no match for nature. The breeding ground of natural selection has improved flying creatures over millions of years, creating a virtual test bed of clever solutions to aerodynamic problems, according to some of the top experts in aviation.
"It's not just strapping wings on and jumping off a cliff," says James DeLaurier, a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto who spent decades studying flapping wings. "It's respectable to look at nature for inspiration. We don't come close to doing all the things that nature does."
