September 23, 2010 — Todd Reichert, a PhD student at the University of Toronto, announced Wednesday that he had completed the first continuous flight of a human-powered ornithopter, the mythical aircraft with birdlike flapping wings first envisioned by Leonardo da Vinci in 1485, The Toronto Star reported. Reichert said his flight, launched by a towline attached to an automobile, sustaining both altitude and airspeed for 19.3 seconds over 145 meters (475 feet) at a top speed of 25 kph (approximately 16 mph). Read More
