PBS documentary: Nature: Raptor Force

Engineers use the body designs of falcons, owls, eagles and hawks as the basis for new aircraft technology.

It is supposed to be on tonight in my area. If you are interested check your local listings.

Below is not from the show but it is a related subject.

We all copy and improve other people’s ideas. We even copy from nature.

GE90-115B

Below is a photo of a screech owl. Owls have some unique features to them. Owls have a porous wings that allow air to enter the wing and be channeled down and flow out at the trailing edge, (Some of the air enters the owl’s wings, the air is diverted to the trailing edge of the wing, thusly delaying stall onset by braking up the stall vortices) much like blown flaps. Owls feathers are unique in the barbs on the feathers are not uniform, this cuts down on drag and noise, so the owl can hunt prey more silently and use less effort; if you look at the curvature on the leading edge of the GE90-115B you will see that the blades have wavelike curvature on the leading edge. The wavelike curvature on the fan blades acts like the uneven barbs on an owl’s feather that helped break up the vortices.

The semi serrated edge of the owl’s feather that brakes up vortices.
http://www.owlpages.com/image.php?image=articles-Owl+Physiology-Feathers-3

A more common example of how we copy nature that is not unique to the owl, if you look at the leading edge of the wing there is a feather that sticks out, it is called an “alula” it acts like a leading edge slat. The alula feathers also act like tell tales, they act like sensors to sense when speed and direction to feedback to the birds flight computer (brain). The alula has extra sensitive nerves. So in a way you could say we copied flyby wire from the birds. The bird’s flight controls; double as sensors.