Ride Like the Wind Day
The American industrialist Henry Kremer established a prize in 1959, which was to be received by the designer of the first muscle-powered aircraft
On August 23, 1977, a reward of £50,000 went to Paul McCready and Peter Lissaman, who flew the Gossamer Condor This device not only rose into the sky to a height of more than 3 m, according to the requirements of the award founder, but also drew an infinity sign as proof of its ability to maneuver in the air In honor of this significant event, August 23 is celebrated annually as the Day “Soar Like the Wind”
The second device, also built by Paul McCready and named "Gossamer Albatross", flew from England to France in 1979 Pilots of this and other muscle planes use the power of their leg muscles to turn the pedals, which transfer power to the propeller Therefore, it is not surprising that the world record for traveling on such aircraft was set in April 1988 by a cyclist from Greece K Kanellopoulos traveled 115 km along the route of the mythological hero Daedalus from the island of Crete to the mainland Thanks to pedaling at a speed of 75 revolutions per minute, the travel time was 3 hours 54 minutes
Muscle planes, unlike airplanes, are driven not by an engine, but by the force of the pilot's muscles Aircraft, which are a hybrid of a bicycle and a glider, are a unique challenge of man to nature In humans, the pectoral muscles account for only 1% of body weight, while in birds it is 17% This means that a person will not be able to fly by flapping his arms, even with artificially created wings like Icarus That's why legs come to the rescue
He tried to repeat the feat of the ancient Greek hero in the 16th century a certain slave Nikita He made a flight that cost his life from the bell tower of the Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda The idea of the design and capabilities of a muscle aircraft was developed by Leonardo da Vinci, who created several devices with flapping wings In 1890, the inventor from France Delpra designed an air bicycle, which interested NE Zhukovsky
The Russian scientist was skeptical about the possibility of a person soaring in the air with the help of wings The founder of aero- and hydrodynamics argued that people would begin to fly, relying not on the strength of their own muscles, but on the power of the mind As the history of aircraft manufacturing has shown, NE Zhukovsky turned out to be right The creation of airplanes is a demonstration of the power of the human mind However, the impetus for this process was given by the development of muscle cars
Ride Like the Wind Day celebrates compact aircraft that are environmentally friendly and do not leave a carbon footprint Flying in a muscle plane is reminiscent of a bird soaring In calm weather it can accelerate to 45 km/h, and with a tailwind - up to 90 km/h In order to fly on this amazing device, you don’t have to be its designer Anyone who decides to celebrate Soar Like the Wind Day can test their strength and compete with birds in the skill of moving through the air