1. First learn to ride a unicycle. After 4 months I am almost done with this task. I can now ride about 100 feet before needing to correct my balance with a cane.
2/19 update - I can now ride a half mile flapping my arms (without touching ground with the canes). 2. Using knowledge gained from building stichless windsurfing sails, start testing small exoskeleton wings fitted to fingers and forearms. 3. Standing facing strong winds get a feel for various motions including whirling buzz of hummingbirds and clap-and-peel grace of butterflies. Investigate other ideas. 4. Experiment with riding a free-wheeled uni downhill. Or as suggested on unicyclist forums an impossible wheel. Update - I now have a BC wheel and feel that it or a larger version will be used for my first flight. 2/4/09 updates: Using a 4 wheeled walker, I can glide downhill and with an incredible amount of inchworm style effort move forward on the flats. Thinking about a freewheel that engages wheel when pedaling forward and somehow works to add strength to wing flapping when pedaling backwards. 2/27/09 updates: I am now trying to convert a monkey bike to a small giraffe to test a 12 inch wheel with a coaster brake hub. The thought of using a mono-wheel that goes between my legs leaving both arms and legs free to flap wings crossed my mind this morning. 3/05/09 update: I now have a mini giraffe with a coaster brake and am gradually learning to ride it. 3/8/09 -> Perhaps just a crazy sidetrack, but I have formed a mental image of a mono-wheel that creates lift using the Magnus effect. However a huge stumbling block exists for takeoff and landing due to backspin motion. One possibility would be to externally attach a unicycle to the outside of a larger Magnus mono-wheel circling between my legs and over my head. The forward spin on the smaller wheel touching the ground and supporting my weight could then be used to power a backspinning Magnus mono-wheel. Another possibility might involve individual fanwings which spin around each of my arms powered using a twisted rubber fanbelt connected to a spinning unicycle axle. A recent fanwing UAV video is a good working example of the Magnus effect. 3/17/09 -> I am wondering if Jultagi performed with two fans would provide increased balance capability -- and whether larger fan like wings could work better than the long 29 foot weighted drooping poles used by some tightrope walkers. 4/30/09 -> I am currently trying to increase my balance using a 20 foot pole (two 10 foot 1/2 inch galvanized steel electrical conduit connected with a piece of plastic tubing at the center) similar to the balance poles used by tight rope walkers. I feel my wings will provide even greater balance. I am still trying to properly guess at a comfortable top end speed with wings that I can easily control - this may require several iterations that I hope to avoid. I fear wing size and speed are intertwined in complicated ways requiring actual experience to understand.
5/11/09 -> My thoughts wander has I try to increase my unicycle balancing skills. It seems plausible that jumping out of a plane sitting on an attached unicycle with a pedaled powered propeller overhead might allow a graceful decent and landing (note that with a bidirectional freewheel wheel one could easily set idling records using resulting gyro effect to balance like a spinning top toy). This could be the smallest device ever used by a skydiver. Can anyone provide a link to examples where skydivers use human power to slow their decent to a successful landing rather than simply dangling like a puppet from canopy strings? 12/30/2009 -- I was just informed that well over a year ago Andreas Küttel landed wearing a wingsuit on skis. This has taken the breath out of me and the urgency out of my current plans to get off the ground and land as a batwinged unicyclist.
2/8/2011 -- It is taking much longer than I originally expected to be able to idle for 30 seconds on a unicycle. Although I can hold a track stand on a bicycle for well over 30 seconds, my max on a unicycle is just 10 seconds (without balance pole or wings). I am now considering simply running downhill to test small wings. I may also start a new website with a simpler goal of showing how flapping small wings can enable a bird-like landing (using an extreme burst of human muscle power to stop and land gently after a brief flight/jump into the air).
7/22/2011 -- Sitting in the beautifully restored Redford theater listening to the spirited organ music, I am thinking my first several public flights will only be available to those within direct eyesite. No video cameras allowed - to enhance the spiritual quality of such an event. 10/02/2011 -- Thinking about fasting until I am nothing but skin, bones and the muscles in my legs, arms and chest that I will use to flap and fall gracefully like no human has in the known past. I am not opposed to using power but it must not increase weight by more than 5 pounds. Still working on wings designed using carbon fiber and monofilm. It would be nice to take advantage of gravity during fall to store energy and reduce speed similar to autorotation but I dont want the difficulty of controling a spinning helicopter style blade. |
