Re: Peculiar Femoral Feathers

["James R. Cunningham" <jrccea@bellsouth.net>]

Waylon Rowley wrote:

> Patrick Norton wrote:
>
> > Pulling the legs in towards the body while airborne,
> > even briefly, would allow for more control on
> > rolling maneuvers.
>
> While that's true, do you think early flyers/gliders
> did rolls?

He didn't say they did rolls, he said they would have had more control
on the roll axis (because of a lower moment of inertia about that
axis).  makes sense.

> I think that if you let your
> legs dangle it would produce turbulence and might make
> your body dip down in the front

You'd probably sweep your wings forward a fraction to compensate, so you
woudn't dip.