Robotic Hummingbirds?

Air Force invests $1 million In planes with wingspans smaller than a deck of cards:

Aerospace engineers are again looking to natural flyers to create the next generation in airplanes.

For example:

• A Blackbird jet flying nearly 2,000 miles per hour covers 32 body lengths per second but a common pigeon flying at 50 miles per hour covers 75.
• The roll rate of the aerobatic A-4 Skyhawk plane is about 720 degrees per second. The roll rate of a barn swallow exceeds 5,000 degrees per second.
• Select military aircraft can withstand gravitational forces of 8-10 G. Many birds routinely experience positive G-forces greater than 10 G and up to 14 G.

University of Michigan engineers want to emulate that kind of efficiency and design flapping-wing planes with wingspans smaller than a deck of playing cards.

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