Bird Flight Adaptations: Inspiration for Aeronautical Engineering
Flight pattern of a redtailed hawk.Copyright Flickr Creative Commons
Students study the patterns of bird flight and learn that four main forces affect the flight abilities of birds (lift, thrust, drag, gravity). They investigate the shape, feather structure and resulting differences in the pattern of flight. Then they look at several articles that feature newly designed planes and their bird inspirations. They watch the Nature documentary, "Raptor Force," which chronicles the flight patterns of birds, how researchers study these animals and what interests the military and aeronautical engineers about these natural adaptations. This activity serves as an extension to the biomimetics lesson. Although students will not be using this information in the design process for their desert resort, it provides interesting information pertaining to the current use of biomimetics in the field of aviation. Students may extend their design process by using this information to create a means of transportation to and from the resort, if they chose to.
The forces of lift, thrust, drag and gravity influence the flight patterns of birds and are the same parameters that must be considered in the design of aircraft. Students are exposed to the overlap in an engineering concept to the discoveries that can be made by studying birds capable of hovering, gliding or steep diving. Each flight pattern demonstrates different degrees of adaptations in the birds capable of those feats.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Distinguish between lift, thrust, drag and gravity.
- Describe how wings of different shapes support different patterns of flight.
- Explain how the study of bird flight can be extended to the field of aeronautical engineering.