Flight
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
(If you are doing research for a report just keep going)
There is an art, or rather a knack to flying.
The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.
Pick a nice day, and try it.
The first part is easy.
All it requires is simply the ability to throw yourself forward with all your weight, and the willingness not to mind that it's going to hurt.
That is, it's going to hurt if you fail to miss the ground.
Most people fail to miss the ground, and if they are really trying properly, the likelihood is that they will fail to miss it fairly hard.
Clearly, it's the second point, the missing, which presents the difficulties.
One problem is that you have to miss the ground accidentally. It's no good deliberately intending to miss the ground because you won't. You have to have your attention suddenly distracted by something else when you're halfway there, so that you are no longer thinking about falling, or about the ground, or about how much it's going to hurt if you fail to miss it.
It is notoriously difficult to prise your attention away from these three things during the split second you have at your
disposal. Hence most people's failure, and their eventual disillusionment with this exhilarating and spectacular sport.
If, however, you are lucky enough to have your attention momentarily distracted at the crucial moment by, say, a
gorgeous pair of legs (tentacles, pseudopodia, according to phylum and/or personal inclination) or a bomb going off in
your vicinity, or by suddenly spotting an extremely rare species of beetle crawling along a nearby twig, then in your astonishment you will miss the ground completely and remain bobbing just a few inches above it in what might seem to be a slightly foolish manner.
This is a moment for superb and delicate concentration.
Bob and float, float and bob.
Ignore all considerations of your own weight and simply let yourself waft higher.
Do not listen to what anybody says to you at this point because they are unlikely to say anything helpful.
They are most likely to say something along the lines of, "Good God, you can't possibly be flying!"
It is vitally important not to believe them or they will suddenly be right.
Waft higher and higher.
Try a few swoops, gentle ones at first, then drift above the treetops breathing regularly.
Do not wave at anybody.
When you have done this a few times you will find the moment of distraction rapidly becomes easier and easier to achieve.
You will then learn all sorts of things about how to control your flight, your speed, your maneuverabailty, and the trick usually lies in not thinking too hard about whatever you want to do, but just allowing it to happen as if it was going to anyway.
You will also learn how to land properly, which is something you will almost certainly cock up, and cock up badly, on your first attempt.
There are private flying clubs you can join which help you achieve the all-important moment of distraction. They hire people with surprising bodies or opinions to leap out from behind bushes and exhibit and/or explain them at the crucial moments. Few genuine hitch-hikers will be able to afford to join these clubs, but some may be able to get temporary employment at them.
~
Now that we got the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy's thoughts on flying its time for Earth's flight history.
Ever since man saw birds he has wanted to fly. People first started making wings then flapping them and trying to miss the ground but failed because they were thinking about it.
Later someone tried jumping off a building with a cape thinking it would slow him down (kind of like a parachute) but nobody heard from him so I am guessing that he also failed to miss the ground when he threw himself at it. Obviously this guy was no Superman. :-P
Leonardo Da Vinci, born on April 15, 1452, was the first to develop a flying machine. However, he was ahead of the times, and the supplies they had back then were not as good as what we have today. First he developed the parachute, which was 12 armlengths by 12 armlengths at the base and 12 armlengths high. His flying machine was too heavy to get off the ground which had pedals to flap large wings attached to the machine. Leonardo is my favorite person from history. If you consider King Arthur nonexistant that is. :-)
In 1896 the Wright brothers became interested in flight and started working on their own way to fly. They nearly doubled what the size of the wings were on other flying machines, changing it from 165 sq. ft. to 308 sq. ft. To help the pilot turn they also took the idea of a rudder from a boat and made a rudder for a plane. Their first flight lasted only 12 seconds. They kept working on it and increased the flying time every time. One day they put their plane in what they thought was a safe place to talk to someone and the wind blew the plane over and broke it. :-( Their next plane was much heavier and stronger, but had engine trouble and could not get off the ground. Once they fixed the engine, if they would turn too much the plane would fall to the ground. A new design for a rudder fixed this.
Some advancements also happened during World War 2. The Germans were the first to have jets, but this was near the end of the war. Most planes were biplanes or mono wing planes with propellers (YEAH! GO SNOOPY! :-P ).
On October 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager was the first to fly faster than the speed of sound with his plane the Bell X-1. Chuck Yeager and the X-1 were carried to 20,000 feet. Yeager ignited two of his plane's rockets and climbed to 42,000 at .88 Mach. At that altitude he ignited his two remaining rockets. At .965 Mach, the airspeed dial went out of control. It had been designed to show up to only 1.0 Mach. The indicator smoothed out and Yeager pushed the plane to its limit. The 11 engineers on the ground heard the rumble of the sonic boom as Yeager passed 1.0 Mach. Later, the engineers found that the plane had reached 1.07 Mach, 7/100 faster than the speed of sound.
Before Leonardo Da Vinci was information I remembered from my AFJROTC class. From Leonardo Da Vinci to the end I found at http://tqjunior.thinkquest.org/4027/
If you have any additional information that you think should be on this page please add a conversation and talk about it.
There is an art, or rather a knack to flying.
The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.
Pick a nice day, and try it.
The first part is easy.
All it requires is simply the ability to throw yourself forward with all your weight, and the willingness not to mind that it's going to hurt.
That is, it's going to hurt if you fail to miss the ground.
Most people fail to miss the ground, and if they are really trying properly, the likelihood is that they will fail to miss it fairly hard.
Clearly, it's the second point, the missing, which presents the difficulties.
One problem is that you have to miss the ground accidentally. It's no good deliberately intending to miss the ground because you won't. You have to have your attention suddenly distracted by something else when you're halfway there, so that you are no longer thinking about falling, or about the ground, or about how much it's going to hurt if you fail to miss it.
It is notoriously difficult to prise your attention away from these three things during the split second you have at your
disposal. Hence most people's failure, and their eventual disillusionment with this exhilarating and spectacular sport.
If, however, you are lucky enough to have your attention momentarily distracted at the crucial moment by, say, a
gorgeous pair of legs (tentacles, pseudopodia, according to phylum and/or personal inclination) or a bomb going off in
your vicinity, or by suddenly spotting an extremely rare species of beetle crawling along a nearby twig, then in your astonishment you will miss the ground completely and remain bobbing just a few inches above it in what might seem to be a slightly foolish manner.
This is a moment for superb and delicate concentration.
Bob and float, float and bob.
Ignore all considerations of your own weight and simply let yourself waft higher.
Do not listen to what anybody says to you at this point because they are unlikely to say anything helpful.
They are most likely to say something along the lines of, "Good God, you can't possibly be flying!"
It is vitally important not to believe them or they will suddenly be right.
Waft higher and higher.
Try a few swoops, gentle ones at first, then drift above the treetops breathing regularly.
Do not wave at anybody.
When you have done this a few times you will find the moment of distraction rapidly becomes easier and easier to achieve.
You will then learn all sorts of things about how to control your flight, your speed, your maneuverabailty, and the trick usually lies in not thinking too hard about whatever you want to do, but just allowing it to happen as if it was going to anyway.
You will also learn how to land properly, which is something you will almost certainly cock up, and cock up badly, on your first attempt.
There are private flying clubs you can join which help you achieve the all-important moment of distraction. They hire people with surprising bodies or opinions to leap out from behind bushes and exhibit and/or explain them at the crucial moments. Few genuine hitch-hikers will be able to afford to join these clubs, but some may be able to get temporary employment at them.
~
Now that we got the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy's thoughts on flying its time for Earth's flight history.
Ever since man saw birds he has wanted to fly. People first started making wings then flapping them and trying to miss the ground but failed because they were thinking about it.
Later someone tried jumping off a building with a cape thinking it would slow him down (kind of like a parachute) but nobody heard from him so I am guessing that he also failed to miss the ground when he threw himself at it. Obviously this guy was no Superman. :-P
Leonardo Da Vinci, born on April 15, 1452, was the first to develop a flying machine. However, he was ahead of the times, and the supplies they had back then were not as good as what we have today. First he developed the parachute, which was 12 armlengths by 12 armlengths at the base and 12 armlengths high. His flying machine was too heavy to get off the ground which had pedals to flap large wings attached to the machine. Leonardo is my favorite person from history. If you consider King Arthur nonexistant that is. :-)
In 1896 the Wright brothers became interested in flight and started working on their own way to fly. They nearly doubled what the size of the wings were on other flying machines, changing it from 165 sq. ft. to 308 sq. ft. To help the pilot turn they also took the idea of a rudder from a boat and made a rudder for a plane. Their first flight lasted only 12 seconds. They kept working on it and increased the flying time every time. One day they put their plane in what they thought was a safe place to talk to someone and the wind blew the plane over and broke it. :-( Their next plane was much heavier and stronger, but had engine trouble and could not get off the ground. Once they fixed the engine, if they would turn too much the plane would fall to the ground. A new design for a rudder fixed this.
Some advancements also happened during World War 2. The Germans were the first to have jets, but this was near the end of the war. Most planes were biplanes or mono wing planes with propellers (YEAH! GO SNOOPY! :-P ).
On October 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager was the first to fly faster than the speed of sound with his plane the Bell X-1. Chuck Yeager and the X-1 were carried to 20,000 feet. Yeager ignited two of his plane's rockets and climbed to 42,000 at .88 Mach. At that altitude he ignited his two remaining rockets. At .965 Mach, the airspeed dial went out of control. It had been designed to show up to only 1.0 Mach. The indicator smoothed out and Yeager pushed the plane to its limit. The 11 engineers on the ground heard the rumble of the sonic boom as Yeager passed 1.0 Mach. Later, the engineers found that the plane had reached 1.07 Mach, 7/100 faster than the speed of sound.
Before Leonardo Da Vinci was information I remembered from my AFJROTC class. From Leonardo Da Vinci to the end I found at http://tqjunior.thinkquest.org/4027/
If you have any additional information that you think should be on this page please add a conversation and talk about it.
