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Posted By: Axzazz De`Nyde Oct 21, 2004 - 02:03 pm

I'm reading two books now, one that I bought (Dune) and one from the library (Super Tanks). Both are futuristic sci-fi with some militant themes. In the first story in Super Tanks, as well as in Dune, the military forces use ornithopters (aircraft which move by flapping their wings in a birdlike manner). An ornithopter seems like it would be a very complex and difficult machine, both from an engineering viewpoint and from that of the pilot, worse than a helicopter. No doubt the military might experiment with one, but I can't see them ever putting them into production for standard use. I think they'd stick with simpler ducted-fan, tilt-rotor, tilt-jet, or thrust-vectored VTOLs.

What do you think, are ground-support ornithopters and air superiority ornithopters a believable concept for the future system that makes helicopters obsolete?

Posted By: Magus Oct 21, 2004 - 07:47 pm

I think that it is a very interesting concept. I'll have to ask my sister about this, she's majoring as an aeronautical engineer.

My thoughts on the matter are simple. They would cost God knows how much money to design, produce and manufacture. They seem like they would be very difficult to design and construct, being far more complex then conventional aircraft. It would be a high risk project, one that very well could flop or offer minimal results. They'd also be far more complicated to pilot. I just don't see it being very practical.

But, if it could be pulled off, it could be very useful. I'd imagine that they'd be extrordinarily agile and manuverable. They'd also probably be much faster as well.

But I'll E-Mail my sister about this. She and I have both read and love Dune, as well as sci-fi in general. I'm sure she'd love to wrap her million-dollar mind, or whatever tuition costs, around this problem.