InnerSelf

Bird Man’ Hoaxster Comes Clean on Dutch Television

Netherlands artist Floris Kaayk, who went by the name of Jarno Smeets during his “Human Birdwings” project, admitted to the hoax today on a Dutch television program called “De Wereld Draait Door” (“The World is Turning”).

“My name is Floris Kaayk I’m actually a filmmaker and animator. I am now 8 months working on an experiment about online media,” Kaayk told the show, according to a Dutch-to-English translation in a YouTube video. Kaayk said attempted the hoax because “it’s everybody’s dream to fly.”

Read the entire article
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/03/birdman-admits-hoax/

Here is the original info that was released a few days prior to the so-called "Jarno Smeets" admitting that the whole story being a hoax. We now know that none of the following was true (so sad)...

Throughout the ages, mankind has stood looking up at the sky, watching birds glide on the wind, and desired to do the same. This led to the development of the airplane, gliders, para-sailing, etc. But, never has a man actually been able to strap on wings and flap those wings and fly -- this mostly due to the fact that humans do not have the muscle strength needed to flap wings big enough to carry his (or her) weight.

Until now, that is! Here is what "the man who flew" had to say:

"We did it! This weekend I flew a 100 meters with my self-built wings. I used a GoPro-camera on my helmet to film the flight. I have always dreamed about this. But after 8 months of hard work, research and testing it all payed off."

PRESS RELEASE: The Hague, Netherlands, 20th March 2012

Dutch engineer is the first man in history to fly like a bird with self-built wings.

Engineer Jarno Smeets (31) is the first man in history to have made a successful short flight with his self-built wings modeled on the movement and structure of real bird wings. Assisted by an electronic system of his own design, Smeets took off from the ground in a park in The Hague last Sunday 18th of March 2012. The flight of an estimated hundred meters lasted about a minute, after which Smeets landed safely.

Wii controller & HTC smartphone

Until now people had assumed that it was impossible to fly with bird-like wings using human muscle power. Smeets designed his own system to solve this problem, using two Wii controllers, the accelerometers from a HTC Wildfire S smartphone and Turnigy motors. This combined mechanism provided Smeets with extra power to move his 17m2 wings and allowed him to move his arms freely without any risk of breaking them. The system is a wireless (haptic) concept. The wing itself was built out of a kite and carbon windsurf masts (as flightpins).

Human Bird Wings is an independent project initiated from the personal ambition and vision of Dutch engineer Jarno Smeets. "Ever since I was a little boy I have been inspired by pioneers like Otto Lilienthal, Leonardo da Vinci and also my own grandfather". Six months ago Smeets started researching. Smeets has developed and realized his wings with support from an independent team assembled under the Human Bird Wings project, sharing his progress through a well documented blog and YouTube channel. He has offered his followers an open source concept in building bird wings. Aided by helpful suggestions of his audience he was able to successfully finish his bird wings concept.
With this project Smeets has proven that modern technology and robotica can create realistic futures from seemingly impossible engineering dreams to fly like a bird.   (jarnosmeets80 @Twitter or Facebook)

Spread Your Wings and Fly

The website Wired posted an article with the following one-paragraph "disclaimer": Editor’s note (March 21, 8:15 am PDT): The authenticity of this video has been questioned (Gizmodo, The Register), but Wired’s preliminary analysis by physicist Rhett Allain suggests the video is not necessarily a fake. We are contacting other experts and will update this post when we have more information. Jarno Smeets has not yet responded to several interview requests.

Jarno has documented the whole process on his blog. “It’s important to sew the seams carefully, and give the wing shape extra strength without making it too heavy. The top part of the kite will be folded around the ribs to create an aerodynamic shape. For extra lift and control I’ll stretch a piece of kite fabric between the legs, as some sort of tail wing.”

After his exhilarating 60-second flight, he said (this is seen on the English-language captions of the following video), “At one moment you see the ground moving away, and then suddenly you’re free, a really intense feeling of freedom. The true feeling of flying. A [bleep] magical moment. The best feeling I have felt in my life.”

As stated at the top of this article... it has now been discovered that the story was a hoax.