Stalling! Stalling! Spin?

[Cydon Prax]

Query for those with a higher intellectual capacity than I,

Hypothetically, if a bird were to flap its wings at an average and continual rate perpetually without fatigue, and were to get into a situation
where the wing were to stall due to a certain angle-of-attack, would the bird actually fall at all, be able to go into a spin or would the ability
to continually flap its wings immediately recover it from a stall or spin?

We know birds can shape their wings and feathers to spread or to have one wing shorter than the other, etc, so I wonder if they can
actually due a full-stall. I don't believe so since the flapping of their wings are thrust which appear to be both upwards and forwards;
which appears (When they land they seem to float midair as a helicopter with only their flapping keeping them up) to be able to
confiscate(sp) for the lack of lift.. I'm not positive, however, and would like some help from the rest of the aviation crew here.

So, what do you think? (Edit: Spelling errors)



Post Edited ( 05-25-06 05:24 )

[poden]

Interesting topic. Maybe in reality some birds intentionally stall to achieve certain goals (like maybe getting quickly into a dive). Due to the great
versatility of having wings that can be shaped, flapped, held straight, etc, birds might stall quite a bit, but can also immediately recover and
suffer no ill effects. I think soaring birds like condors and gulls could certainly stall if hit with a sudden tailwind. This is all just my opinion;
I don't claim to be any sort of bird expert. Why don't you do a google search?

[detpilot]

Any aerodynamic shape can stall if it's angle of attack exceeds the critical value, but I don't know enough about birds to know if they use stalls for
dives, etc.

[Serviceman]

I see birds tuck their wings in to dive; They seem to almost stall when they land wings outstreched on a tree limb or other perch.

[Ryanamur]

No, they would not spin. A spin is caused by the lift differential between the two wings that are stalled. That's what causes the rotation. All
a bird has to do to prevent the rotation is retract the wings or change the configuration of the feathers to change the AOA. Retracting the
wings would instantly stop the rotation (in this case, you're no longer stalled because you don't have wings to produce lift; you're just
failing... in the case of a bird, failing with style!). Changing the AOA of the feathers would instantly break the stall. Don't forget that a bird
also uses air cussions to slow down and land (much like a chopper)... they achieve this by flaping their wings in a front down motion as
opposed to the straight down or down backward motion.

Phil

[Cydon Prax]

Man, I'm going to Boeing's headquarters and getting me the new 7B7. The bird model, first aviation aircraft with wings that can't stall.
You'll all be crying about fuel as I flap my way along using nothing but hydraulics to pump the wings up and down and all around, lol..

Interesting to know they easily recover from such stuff. Now I just wonder why they can't get out of the way of all our planes..

[crowebird]

Now I just wonder why they can't get out of the way of all our planes..

In reality, we took the sky from them...

[Captain_Smith]

Too many big words for my head lol

[crowebird]

Captain_Smith wrote:
Too many big words for my head lol

huh?