Re: New bird /pterosaur flight paper in PLoS ONE

["jrc" <jrccea@bellsouth.net>]

P.S.  A 150 Kg Quetzalcoatlus northropi (150 Kg gives the optimum wing 
loading for the animal's aspect ratio and can be considered an average 
weight rather than a maximum weight) with a 20% flight muscle fraction, 
flap-gliding at 0.973 Hz in no-lift conditions at an altitude of 100 meters 
will need to flap 82% of the time in order to maintain altitude.  Since you 
normally can find lift atmospheric lift sources within a mile, that means 
that flapping might be required for about 50 seconds during the first minute 
with soaring thereafter.  Maximum range speed when flap-gliding is about 
33.3 m/s or 74.5 miles/hr.  Sounds quite doable to me.
JimC