Human-powered flight has fascinated scientists, artists, and physicians for centuries.
This history includes Abbas Ibn Firnas, a Spanish inventor who attempted the first
well-documented human flight; Leonardo da Vinci and his flying machines; the Turkish
inventor Hezarfen Ahmed Celebi; and the modern aeronautical pioneer Otto Lilienthal.
These historic figures held in common their attempts to construct wings from man-made
materials, and though their human-powered attempts at flight never came to fruition,
the ideas and creative elements contained within their flying machines were essential
to modern aeronautics. Since the time of these early pioneers, flight has continued
to captivate humans, and recently, in a departure from creating wings from artificial
elements, there has been discussion of using reconstructive surgery to fabricate human
wings from human arms. This article is a descriptive study of how one might attempt
such a reconstruction and in doing so calls upon essential evidence in the evolution
of flight, an understanding of which is paramount to constructing human wings from
arms. This includes a brief analysis and exploration of the anatomy of the 150-million-year-old
fossil Archaeopteryx lithographica, with particular emphasis on the skeletal organization of this primitive bird’s wing
and wrist. Additionally, certain elements of the reconstruction must be drawn from
an analysis of modern birds including a description of the specialized shoulder of
the European starling, Sturnus vulgaris. With this anatomic description in tow, basic calculations regarding wing loading
and allometry suggest that human wings would likely be nonfunctional. However, with
the proper reconstructive balance between primitive (Archaeopteryx) and modern (Sturnus), and in attempting to integrate a careful analysis of bird anatomy with modern surgical
techniques, the newly constructed human wings could function as cosmetic features simulating, for example, the nonfunctional wings of flightless birds.
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
November 26,
2007
Received:
August 4,
2007
Footnotes
S.O.P. would like to sincerely thank Mike Bentz, Karol Gutowski, and James Chang, whose encouragement and suggestions strengthened this article considerably. Also, S.O.P. would also like to thank Ted Goslow—functional morphologist, friend, and most importantly, teacher.
No benefits in any form have been received or will be received from a commercial party related directly or indirectly to the subject of this article.
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Copyright
© 2008 American Society for Surgery of the Hand. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
