pterosaur take-off analog

[David Peters <davidrpeters@charter.net>]

Last night Animal Planet - Wild Pacific - Eat or Be Eaten, fledgling  
albatrosses were shown getting hungry on their small beach environs,  
parents absent. Most were spreading their wings in the elevated  
configuration. Some ventured into shallow waters to float while doing  
the same thing. There they became shark bait, but that's not the point  
here. The wind, as it picked up, gently carried them aloft, out of  
harm's way and off on their first trans-oceanic voyages. Sure there  
were some running take-offs, but heading into the wind made everything  
much easier. They were light on their feet and flapping was not really  
much of an issue.

Pterosaur wings were like those of sailplanes (when properly  
reconstructed). Maybe calculations involving take-offs should be  
modified to reflect different wind conditions. The above scenario  
seemed especially appropriate for certain derived ornithocheirids,  
which, by all indications, had the smallest pelves and feet of all.  
Certainly smaller pteros were big on flapping and there would have  
been a spectrum of abilities in between the smallest and largest.

David Peters
St. Louis