Date: Jan 27, 1986 Author: ROBERT M. ANDREWS Source: Associated Press (
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WASHINGTON (AP) _ An 18-foot wide, hairy mechanical replica of the extinct giant pterodactyl flapped aloft earlier this month in the first successful test flight of the artificial beast, the Smithsonian Institution announced Monday.
Robert McCormick Adams, secretary of the Smithsonian, said the battery- powere d, computer-controlled model was airborne several times, for a few minutes each time, on Jan. 7 at the El Mirage Dry Lake Bed in California.
''We hope the project will make a significant contribution to the fields of aerodynamics and paleontology,'' said Walter Boyne, director of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.
The replica will be filmed in flight this week in Death Valley, California, for a large-screen movie entitled ''On the Wing,'' which will be shown at the museum starting in June.
The film will explore flight in all forms, from birds and insects to kites and modern aircraft. Coinciding with the movie's premiere, the pterodactyl is supposed to fly in public for the first time on the Mall near the museum in mid-June.
The mechanical version was patterned after the fossilized remains of a pterodactyl with a 36-foot wingspan that was discovered in west Texas in 1971. Pterodactyls became extinct 65 million years ago.
The replica was developed at a cost of $500,000 for the Smithsonian by AeroVironment Inc. of Monrovia, Calif.
Paul MacCready, chairman of AeroVironment, said the problems of stability and control during flight were tough to solve.
''Very little is known about how natural fliers such as birds combine their sensing devices, brains and muscles to fly effectively,'' MacCready said. ''The challenge is especially difficult with this pterodactyl. It does not even have a tail to help with stability and control.''
The solution, he said, was to install an onboard computer which enables the replica to maintain stable flight by moving its head from side to side, extending claws midway out its wings, twisting the wings and swinging them forward and backward.
The replica was fashioned from carbon fiber composite, Kevlar, latex and foam, with a hairy coating similar to the prehistoric reptile's hide.
