Biomechanics of aerial locomotion[edit]

Gliding and parachuting[edit]

During a free-fall with no aerodynamic forces, the object accelerates due to gra
vity, resulting in increasing velocity as the object descends. During parachutin
g, animals use the aerodynamic forces on their body to counteract the force or g
ravity. Any object moving through air experiences a drag force that is proportio
n to surface area and to velocity squared, and this force will partially counter
the force of gravity, slowing the animal's descent to a safer speed. If this dr
ag is oriented at an angle to the vertical, the animal's trajectory will gradual
ly become more horizontal, and it will cover horizontal as well as vertical dist
ance. Smaller adjustments can allow turning or other maneuvers. This can allow a
parachuting animal to move from a high location on one tree to a lower location
on another tree nearby.
During gliding, lift plays an increased role. Like drag, lift is proportional to
velocity squared. Gliding animals will typically leap or drop from high locatio
ns such as trees, just as in parachuting, and as gravitational acceleration incr
eases their speed, the aerodynamic forces also increase. Because the animal can
utilize lift and drag to generate greater aerodynamic force, it can glide at a s
hallower angle than parachuting animals, allowing it to cover greater horizontal
distance in the same loss of altitude, and reach trees further away.
Powered flight[edit]
Unlike most air vehicles, in which the objects that generate lift (wings) and th
rust (engine/propeller) are separate and the wings remained fixed, flying animal
s use their wings to generate both lift and thrust by moving them relative to th
e body. This has made the flight of organisms considerably harder to understand
than that of vehicles, as it involves varying speeds, angles, orientations, area
s, and flow patterns over the wings.
A bird or bat flying through the air at a constant speed moves its wings up and
down (usually with some fore-aft movement as well). Because the animal is in mot
ion, there is some airflow relative to its body which, combined with the velocit
y of with wings, generates a faster airflow moving over the wing. This will gene
rate lift force vector pointing forwards and upwards, and a drag force vector po
inting rearwards and upwards. The upwards components of these counteract gravity
, keeping the body in the air, while the forward component provides thrust to co
unteract both the drag from the wing and from the body as a whole. Pterosaur fli
ght likely worked in a similar manner, though no living pterosaurs remain for st
udy.
Insect flight is considerably different, due to their small size, rigid wings, a
nd other anatomical differences. Turbulence and vortices play a much larger role
in insect flight, making it even more complex and difficult to study than the f
light of vertebrates.[5] The UCMP exhibit on vertebrate flight contains a broad
introduction to the biomechanics of flying and gliding vertebrates.[4]