Dutch man flies with a set of man-made bird wings
Jarno Smeets readies for his record-breaking flight. Or not. Picture: Supplied/Jarno Smeets Source: Supplied
Use at your own risk - it's probably copyrighted. That, and you might crash and die horribly. Picture: Supplied/Jarno Smeets Source: Supplied
ON Sunday in a park in The Hague, Dutch engineer Jarno Smeets flapped his wings and flew.
To say this has taken a while for humanity to achieve is something of an understatement.
Perhaps it's just been a confidence thing. We got off to a bad start with the whole too-close-to-the-sun Icarus thing a couple of thousand years ago, and haven't really progressed past anything that doesn't involve dirty rivers, a ramp and 10 cans of Red Bull.
Just recently, we've been giving it all we've got. Last year saw the successful launch of Snowbird - a string-and-wood contraption with 16m wings that flap, powered by a bicycle.
But Snowbird needed to be towed into the air first. Mr Smeets built his lightweight "wings" based on the movement and structure of real bird wings and used two Nintendo Wii controllers and HTC accelerometers to drive them by flapping his arms.
The result - an estimated 100m flight, from a standing takeoff, with safe landing.
Excited much? Don't be... yet. Because here's comes the science.
Well, here's comes MythBusters, which is kind of the same thing.
Head Buster Jamie Hyneman weighed in on the debate about whether Mr Smeets' video, which is approaching the one million views mark on YouTube, is real or CGI.
The doubters - namely Gizmodo - contacted Ryan Martin, techynical director at George Lucas' CGI hub, Industrial Light & Magic.
Mr Martin said two things about the video had him thinking "fake". One, the poor quality of the footage.
"They're able to afford to build this thing, but can't invest in proper video equipment, or… a tripod," he told Gizmodo.
"If I were to make a fake video with the intention of going viral, I would make certain that the quality was as poor as possible to disguise any flaws in poor cg work."
The second is the stability of Mr Smeets' head throughout the flight. Impossible, given the amount or physical energy being expended, Mr Martin says.
Hyneman actually wags a finger at IL&M to some extent, saying that it's "reasonable to accomplish".
"I am suspicious because there is not much detail shown of the actual machine," he writes.
"The device is also something that is only possible in recent times, given proliferation of these types of high torque, high power density brushless motors, high voltage speed controllers and lithium batteries, off the shelf carbon fiber components and so on."
Yet amongst all the deconstruction and beard-stroking, perhaps the most damning evidence is the most simple.
Mr Smeets is yet to comment, despite putting out a press release with all his contact details and inviting queries from the media.
So who do you believe - MythBuster, or the guy who made Greedo shoot first?
Before you jump on the anti-Smeets wagon, just remember - they're both responsible for shattering pretty much all our childhood dreams.
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