Have you ever seen a tornado or vortex of the cyclone-shaft? All the objects that are flying around the tornado will be brought into the rotation, such as a tornado sucked in the direction axis. Why so? Because the air pressure inside the tornado is smaller than the surrounding air pressure. The difference in air pressure caused large enough to draw objects like oil drums, roofs, and even a buffalo into the vortex of a tornado. So, what to do with birds swallow? Was able to swallow flew through a tornado vortex? Here's the story.
There are types of fighter jets equipped with a pair of wings that can be folded back and developed again. This type is called a swept wing-wing, and wing which gives this kind of ability to fly fast and turn sharply to the jet fighter aircraft - such as the ability to swallow a bird. Funnily enough, the flight engineer was utilizing the uniqueness of this bird, long before scientists understand and explain. Not only American jet fighter, the F-14 Tomcat that uses this technique swallow, but the type of Concorde passenger jet also.
Both types of aircraft flying over the need of high speed when flying, but also the ability to slow its speed when about to land, without losing altitude, or better said without losing the ability to maintain proper altitude, for reducing the velocity means reducing the upward thrust of air . Have you ever noticed a bird when he was about to land or perch on a tree branch? It also is one of the secrets of bird that will be revealed here.
Since 1996, scientists have known that insects use a phenomenon called the tornado vortex, which is a rotating air flow, to fly. However, connecting the typical wing shape of birds with its vortex insect is something that is almost impossible to be demonstrated and observed.
Around the year 2004, scientists create a model wing Swallow and placed them in the water tunnel that serves as passage of air (water-tunnel). Water intentionally given a color for the flow of water that arise can be more easily observed. Apparently, the model wing swallow with this particular form of such causes vortex flow at the top of the wing model tersebur. As in a tornado, a low pressure inside the vortex as the wings suck swallow upwards.
Vortex is visible in the water-tunnel experiments resulted in two things, each lift is great and the entire major obstacle to speed. When flying faster, both birds and jet aircraft with swept-wings will fold their wings back. When to take off or landing, the wing set back for the air lift larger.
Similarly, both F-14 Tomcat and the bird can swallow a sharp turn for the set wings to produce a tornado that pulls up. The ability of this kind of maneuver that allows the birds to swallow insects in the air strikes. When a bird swallows landing, air resistance slows the resulting flight, but the air lift is generated to keep him from falling to the ground because of low speed, but can reach tree limbs that landed. It also gives an explanation, what about other birds that landed.
More than an insect wing or wing jet fighter, the bird wing consists of two parts. Close to the body part that is arm-wing that serves to generate air pressure to the top like a conventional aircraft wing. The outer part is called hand-wing, which has a sharp front side, so as to produce a tornado in a slightly slanting position. Meanwhile, insect wings must form a slope of 25o to produce a vortex, wing swallow only requires the slope only 5 – 10o.
In addition Albatross birds and giant sea birds (giant Petrel), all birds have wings that are less construction-more-equal. Thus, birds flying swallow technique can be applied to these birds also.
Explanation of the above this will definitely change a lot of people in terms of understanding how birds fly. But it must be remembered that nature is always in front of engineers / technicians and scientists. In the case of tornado or vortex the use of techniques in cutting stunts swiftlet, the scientists were only peeling the whole surface of the confidential nature of the birds. There are many things yet to be revealed and one of them is, how to regulate swiftlet bird wings to increase his flying skills. With the unfolding of 'swiftlet flight control', may well be that in the future, engineers will be able to create a kind of instrument flying with speed, agility, efficiency and distance took off and landed a short like those of insects and birds. Who knows?
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