Paul MacCready with the head of a pterosaur model. He studies the head of?a flying; wing-flapping 1/2 scale model of the 11 m wing-span Quetzalcoatlus northropi (QN); largest animal to have flown on earth; extinct for 65 million years. ?The colors are conjectural; likewise the use of the head as a rudder. ?The project was undertaken in 1985 for the I-Max film 'On the Wing'. ?The head's side-to-side motion is used by the onboard auto-pilot to input rudder/yaw control.

---

Size: 5624px × 3749px
Location:
Photo credit: © William Warren / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: aeronautical, aeronautics, aerovironment, americans, aviation, california, color, control, engineer, flight, horizontal, indoors, inventor, maccready, man, mid-adult, northropi, paleontology, paul, person, pterodactyl, quetzalcoatlus, radio, remote, robotics, simi, usa, valley, whites