Chuck Hamilton ([email removed]) sed:
> I noticed that the Astrogator's Guide to Diaspora contained a couple
> of references to ornithopters. What are these? I remember them from
> Frank Herbert's _Dune_, where they seemed to be desert gliders which
> became airborne by either VTOL or perhaps hopping. So can anyone
> describe an ornithopter, or point to the location of a good descrip-
> tion?
An Ornithopter is the classic flying machine in which flight
is achieved by simulating avian wings, i.e. "flapping." I don't have
a pointer to a good source, but I imagine any good book about the
early efforts to achieve flight should do the trick. Go back and
re-read Dune. Check out the movie - I seem to recall some sequences
with the ornithopters in the beginning of the movie (particularly the
scene where a sandworm takes a spice crawler).
Steven J. Owens
[email removed]