Why is it so difficult for us to just replicate a bird instead of the kind of fixed wing aircraft we have?

Question

Why is it so difficult for us to just replicate a bird instead of the kind of fixed wing aircraft we have?

In: 164

Answer 1

The shortest and most succinct answer to your question is because birds are light and humans/cargo are heavy. Flapping bird wings generate much less lift than a fixed wing, enough for a bird but not enough for people or cargo (if you’ve ever held a bird, you know that they are shockingly light). This is completely ignoring efficiency – in which case the fixed wing aircraft wins as well. Basically, fixed wing aircraft are actually better than flapping bird wings for lifting the kinds of things that we want to be able to fly.