Although I have the greatest respect for Wei Shyy (and, he's a nice guy to
boot), the statement that
"Select military aircraft can withstand gravitational forces of 8-10 G. Many
birds routinely experience positive G-forces greater than 10 G and up to 14
G."
sounds as though it may have been taken out of context by the reporter. The
8-10 G limit on military fighters is generally because that is the most that
the occupants can withstand while remaining functional -- it has nothing to
do with what the machines themselves can be built to withstand -- but, there
is no point in actually building the fighters heavier so that they can
withstand loads that would incpacitate or kill their occupants. I'm not
sure that I'd expect a bird to routinely experience positive g-forces of
10-14 G either. Mike Habib, what sorts of load and safety factors are you
seeing on avian long bones?
JimC
----- Original Message -----
From: "GUY LEAHY" <xrciseguy@q.com>
To: "Dinosaur Mailing List" <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Saturday, February 09, 2008 8:01 PM
Subject: The aerodynamics of birds
No doubt about it... birds are biologic machines... :-)