Seems this amazing video is taking the Interwebs by storm and why not. This friggin guy is flying for crying out loud….Or is he?

A Dutch man named Jarno Smeets had a dream to fly birdlike with the ultimate DIY project. He decided he would accomplish this feat and began by studying one of the clumsiest birds around, the Albatross. You would call him crazy and say he’s already destined for failure using an Albatross as a pattern, but I call him crazy like a Fox.

What better bird to study? It’s clumsy and has a hard time taking off, we as humans are clumsy (compared to all but a few birds). Why not take after a bird that despite it’s shortcomings, finds a way to get off the ground?

Jarno decided to engineer a set of wings based on the Albatross and through trial and error and lots of good old fashioned elbow grease…and a little bit of modern electronic help, he did. Yes, after 13 videos and lots of trial and error, test #14 was the charm as he finally broke free from the constraints of land. He looked a great deal like that Albatross at first but once he entered the air currents, he was majestic, almost like he’d been doing it all his life.

For those who need visual conformation, here’s the video (clear as crystal):

It all started on August 1 of last year when Jarno’s mother found some sketches that his grandfather had been working on. You see, his grandfather had the same kooky dream as Jarno. Well, maybe not the same dream, as the grandfather’s plan was a bit more pedestrian….Just a bit. Seen below are 3 of those sketches:

So, as you can see, Jarno took his grandfather’s dream and ran with it….or should I say flew with it?

Now, there are already those out and about that say it’s a hoax but I for one am going to hold on to the dream until it’s proven one way or the other. I’d say Jarno has laid down the gauntlet because he looks to be flapping along and going air born.

There’s so much more to this saga and plenty of videos to show the progression (see associated content below).

If this really happened, I am more than a little impressed. Even Jamie from Mythbusters is on-board with it. However, we will have to wait it out to see if Jarno’s dream is just that, a dream….a dream we all shared with him.

This is just the type of thing to show the human spirit in action and prove to the pessimists out there that dreams can come true….with a little hard work.

Thanks to Jarno Smeets and his blog Human Birdwings for this fun and possibly groundbreaking story.

Associated Content:

August 23, 2011: Jarno in learning stage
September 20, 2011: Jarno does 3D drawing of concept
December 6, 2011: Jarno programs electronic controls
January 5, 2012: Jarno brings wing assembly to life

Note: As I said, there are more videos and much more to see at humanbirdwings.net