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Man Supposedly Flies With Custom-Built Bird Wings

wired.com

101–110 of 164 posts

Re: Man Supposedly Flies With Custom-Built Bird Wings

#101
Skeptical. Camera angles coming from the helmet are different in two shots and his head isn't moving at all. Stationary. You would think when flying, your head would be moving slightly, but his is not.

I also see a bit of CGI in his legs when he is shown to be flapping in the air.

Very Skeptical.

Re: Man Supposedly Flies With Custom-Built Bird Wings

#102
post #19

Incredibly skeptical. Red flags: 1. He's received criticism about his videos before, but still insists on filming in random parks, only releasing to press after the event, and using blurry/shaky footage. 2. When he takes off, the camera shakes heavily. When he lands, someone steps in front to block the view. 3. At 0:35, his legs lift up so that his body is parallel to the ground (necessary for flight.) If he had been…

Also, birds don't generate lift from merely flapping their wings up and down, they generate lift due to the angle of attack of the wing during the upstroke and downstroke. The wings in this video don't address this issue.

Re: Man Supposedly Flies With Custom-Built Bird Wings

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why don't you read his dev blog? http://www.humanbirdwings.net/project-timeline/ It would seem that arguments about the system instead of the filming might, you know, be more productive.

Went through a number of his videos. Fake. 100%. Once you know when the CGI switch happens, it's just painful to watch. In this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0tKFOcHyrI#t=101s The switch happens in a moment of blur at 1:53. Here's some damning evidence: http://i.imgur.com/LODDp.jpg Top screenshots: Before CGI switch. Below images are after CGI switch. When seeing a video they point the camera down, so you "f…

I was looking at that video too and thinking it doesn't look or feel natural. It's a good trick and actually a good demo. I think the physics are kind of off in the final video though.

Re: Man Supposedly Flies With Custom-Built Bird Wings

#104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why don't you read his dev blog? http://www.humanbirdwings.net/project-timeline/ It would seem that arguments about the system instead of the filming might, you know, be more productive.

Went through a number of his videos. Fake. 100%. Once you know when the CGI switch happens, it's just painful to watch. In this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0tKFOcHyrI#t=101s The switch happens in a moment of blur at 1:53. Here's some damning evidence: http://i.imgur.com/LODDp.jpg Top screenshots: Before CGI switch. Below images are after CGI switch. When seeing a video they point the camera down, so you "f…

What are the damning parts specifically?

The color saturation is a little different, but the camera is at a slightly different angle to the sun too.

The black square is a bit suspicious.

Re: Man Supposedly Flies With Custom-Built Bird Wings

#105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why don't you read his dev blog? http://www.humanbirdwings.net/project-timeline/ It would seem that arguments about the system instead of the filming might, you know, be more productive.

Went through a number of his videos. Fake. 100%. Once you know when the CGI switch happens, it's just painful to watch. In this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0tKFOcHyrI#t=101s The switch happens in a moment of blur at 1:53. Here's some damning evidence: http://i.imgur.com/LODDp.jpg Top screenshots: Before CGI switch. Below images are after CGI switch. When seeing a video they point the camera down, so you "f…

It could be the camera being wonky, legitimate post-production work, auto gain adjustment, etc.

So, no, look at the equipment used, look at the mechanisms involved, and tell me that it is completely infeasible. Don't rely on analysis of some cheap Youtube video.

As for the black square, I'm willing to chalk that up to being under the fabric until its stretch taught.

EDIT: Black square is not under the wing--probably a patch if its real.

Re: Man Supposedly Flies With Custom-Built Bird Wings

#106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why don't you read his dev blog? http://www.humanbirdwings.net/project-timeline/ It would seem that arguments about the system instead of the filming might, you know, be more productive.

Went through a number of his videos. Fake. 100%. Once you know when the CGI switch happens, it's just painful to watch. In this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0tKFOcHyrI#t=101s The switch happens in a moment of blur at 1:53. Here's some damning evidence: http://i.imgur.com/LODDp.jpg Top screenshots: Before CGI switch. Below images are after CGI switch. When seeing a video they point the camera down, so you "f…

What's off about your screenshots? It looks pretty consistent to me, e.g. the shadows and the marking of the wings.

I definitely noticed that they didn't show the landing clearly. I expected him to fall if he had any kind of velocity going but it wasn't clear, and that seemed fishy.

Re: Man Supposedly Flies With Custom-Built Bird Wings

#107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why don't you read his dev blog? http://www.humanbirdwings.net/project-timeline/ It would seem that arguments about the system instead of the filming might, you know, be more productive.

Went through a number of his videos. Fake. 100%. Once you know when the CGI switch happens, it's just painful to watch. In this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0tKFOcHyrI#t=101s The switch happens in a moment of blur at 1:53. Here's some damning evidence: http://i.imgur.com/LODDp.jpg Top screenshots: Before CGI switch. Below images are after CGI switch. When seeing a video they point the camera down, so you "f…

Here's the 'missing' bit on the wing: http://imgur.com/PlEI7

Re: Man Supposedly Flies With Custom-Built Bird Wings

#110
Watch a bird take off. Start with some pigeons, then some sea gulls. If you can, watch an albatross - on YouTube if nothing else. As you get larger, you get heavier; as you get heavier you need more lifting force (ie, bigger wings, moving faster). Recall that weight is a function of volume and increases with the cube of your dimensions, while lifting force is a function of surface area and only increases with the square of your dimensions. Very very roughly if you're twice as big, you get four times the surface area but eight times the weight, meaning that as you get larger flying goes from being "difficult" to impossible. And a man is large, and the batteries and motors he was allegedly using just add weight.

All of which is a long way of saying that he runs very slowly, his wings are very small, and they flap very slowly. The first couple seconds of him after take off our patently absurd; you need to be applying - somehow - hundreds of pounds of force to the air to push you off the ground. Yes, fine, he has a wonderful wing design and some amazing motors and (apparently) zero weight batteries. Fantastic! But none of the components in that video are producing hundreds of pounds of force. (A commenter at Wired estimates that the servo motors are theoretically applying enough force to pick up a two ton load, in fraction of a second. If we had this tech, we could fly, although that wing design probably couldn't. We could also make Iron Man-style powered armour. Unfortunately, we don't have this tech.) The whole thing is multiple orders of magnitude off from the realm of "remotely possible".

There are just so many red flags. The bizarre edits, the poor filming, the ridiculous design of the wing, the secrecy, the way nobody in the video acts right, the way the wing magically changes designs in different shots, the fact that the wing is clearly not fully loaded, the weird clothing and gear choices, etc., etc., etc. Wired has been hoaxed hard.

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