Student makes history by flying like a bird

A Canadian student has made history by becoming the first person to fly a human-powered aircraft with flapping wings.

Todd Reichert and Cameron Robertson from the University of Toronto spent four years and $200,000 building a human-powered aircraft called Snowbird. Then Todd spent the summer getting ready to fly it.

Todd needed to be light and fit enough to keep the aircraft in the air by pumping a set of pedals. He went on a special diet, trained every day and lost eight kilogrammes.

He took 65 test runs before he flew Snowbird in front of aviation experts in Tottenham in Ontario in August. The aircraft stayed in the air for 19 seconds and travelled 145 metres.

“I didn’t sleep the night before the flight,” Todd said. “My mind was just racing. It was unreal.” Now aviation experts want to put Snowbird in the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa.

Watch Todd fly Snowbird in Tottenham: