Human Ornithopter Problem?

This thread has gotten me thinking more than it did the last time it
came up. :)

First, on me at least, the center of gravity is not between the navel
and groin; it's a couple cm above the navel. (I tested this by
balancing on the edge of a peaked footrest.) And that's when my legs
are straight and my arms are at my sides. In any other pose, it's
higher.

So, imagine this: for normal horizontal flight, you have your arms
extended outward and your knees bent, so your feet are pointing
straight up. (Perhaps we attach fins to them somehow that would be
vertical in this position, helping the flight dynamics.) The wings
extend down to your hips or so to make the center of lift in this
position match your center of mass, slightly above the navel. To pitch
up, you can straighten your legs -- good for climbing or landing. To
pitch down, you raise your arms above your head -- good for diving.
Sounds pretty natural to me.

I also think that maybe we could do some useful analysis of this, after
all. Maybe not the flight dynamics itself, but at least the center of
lift vs. center of mass, for different poses. That in itself might be
interesting and helpful. We'd need a simple physics package, a model
of the human body, and a model of whatever flight suit we want to test.

Best,
- Joe

Joe Strout -- joe@...
Strout Custom Solutions, LLC