Dragon's flight mechanism

fbocabral · May 27, 2009 3:12 PM

I was reading Brisingr las night (i guess its Empire in english, dunno... the 3rd book from the inheritance cycle from Christopher Paolini) and in a certain moment (i wont spoiler) saphira passed through the elven's magic barriers walking, cuz she depends not only of her body, but of her magic to fly, and the magic barrier would make her wings fail and she would fall.
I allways tough dragons fly only by their wings, that was a surprise for me...
U see, in DotD, Spyro and Cynder seems to have the same mechanism, cuz if u stop flying, they will slowly fall to the ground, almost stoped in the air, like an helicopter... Ok there are those air boosters and so, but thats different....

Spyro Master · May 27, 2009 4:20 PM

So they stop flapping and they plummet to the earth, would make sense as we saw that happen in TEN

~cornys~ · May 27, 2009 8:35 PM

yeah.. it would be an interesting theroy... and what do you mean about Brisiger being the Empire in English?

Spyro Master · May 27, 2009 9:09 PM

makes a sort of sense to me smile after all the dragons arent going to act like planes and glide auto-matically unless the dragon wants to glide that is..

ontels · May 28, 2009 9:21 AM

The membrane inside the wings is the thing keeping the Dragon up, when they flap there wings they are puching themselves up. If a dragon was to postion there wings so they are not keeping them up (like putting there wing horizontilly up for example) then they would fall like a rock, simple.

Spyro Master · May 28, 2009 9:30 AM

Isnt that what he basicly said? Minus the bit about the membrane in the wings. It makes a lot of sense though smile

ontels · May 28, 2009 9:43 AM

I think you are the onlly one who has agreed with my point...fbocabral seems to think they slow down when they fall.

Nightfall · May 28, 2009 9:58 AM

i guess its Empire in english, dunno...

It is Brisingr in England too. smile

If a dragon was to postion there wings so they are not keeping them up (like putting there wing horizontilly up for example) then they would fall like a rock, simple.

I would've thought that a dragon could glide if they were high and stable enough.

Spyro Master · May 28, 2009 9:59 AM

Not really, if you look at them they arent exactl aero dynamic, so if they just fold their wings in they will plummet to the earth simple lol

Nightfall · May 28, 2009 10:03 AM

Oh I thought you meant if they don't move their wings they glide, not folding them against their body. Sorry! big_smile

Spyro Master · May 28, 2009 11:07 AM

Its ok big_smile should of been explained in depth more i guess

Nightfall · May 28, 2009 3:31 PM

My visions of a large dragon flying is that they have to beat their wings in great depth to actually get themselves off the ground, but then when they are high up they can relax and simply glide.

fbocabral · May 28, 2009 3:46 PM

Thats what i think as well.... a dragon fly with his aerodynamic body, using his wings just like a bat, for exemple... and they can glide only by keeping his wings open, getting the warm air torrents.... and he could even use magic to increase his flight abilities to make a turn, for exemple...
but when Christopher Paolini wrote that saphira would fall due to the magic barrier, and that she depends not only of her wings to fly, but also magic.... i was shocked o_O

and thanks for the explanation about Brisingr's name smile

Spyro Master · May 28, 2009 3:55 PM

Well everyones got their different visions of dragons i guess, the gliding i agree with would happen if they weren't beating their wings, however if they closed their wings up they would fall thats what i mean.

Nightfall · May 28, 2009 9:18 PM

Yeah I'd like to see that! Neeeeeow KABOOM! big_smile "MAYDAY! MAYDAY!"

Aceedwin · May 29, 2009 10:14 AM

Perhaps the magical ability was like a paralysis sort of thing, or a gravity enhancing effect. Magic in the Inheritance cycle is very flexible, and requires little more than imagination, bringing physics into a debate along with magic like that is just confusing.

Also, there was a really good documentary on the scientific possibility of dragons. They explained flight by inventing a special hydrogen bladder that allowed extra buoyancy, with control added by strong, large wings.

Interestingly, this also explained fire breathing. If a dragon had a store of hydrogen, it follows that, if it had some kind of sparking device in it's jaw, it could breath fire.

Quid quo pro, suckers.

ontels · May 29, 2009 10:30 AM

I have that documentary on DVD, they ruined it thoue by putting in some crappy story about some sciantists.

Nightfall · May 29, 2009 1:29 PM

I'd heard about it but I haven't seen it. I'll see if I can find it on YouTube later.

fbocabral · May 29, 2009 3:14 PM

hmm.. i wanna see that documentary too...

well, in inheritance, i guess the dragons use magic trough their wings to fly, but somekind instinctive... sure they could fly, go any direction only if they wish, like

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or, its kind of a reforcement, like said, an hydrogen baloon with a engine...

an hydrogen reserve??? interesting.... but what would happen if he farts??? "oops.... maydei, maydei!!!"

Nightfall · May 29, 2009 4:18 PM

You mean if they squirt a liquid it ignites? Cool!

Fresh blood · May 29, 2009 4:55 PM

You can't really compare the mechanisms of flight between two different universes due to the fact that dragons are fictional and can therefore be changed to match the author's whim.

In the Inheritance cycle I think it has been mentioned that the dragons would be too heavy to fly under their own physical power. As a result they have to rely on a form of magic to make up the difference, most probably their own form of dragon magic; they can't control it, they just use it unconciously. The barriers around Du Weldenvarden probably use a spell that neutralises that dragon magic which would make the dragons incapable of sustaining flight.

Dragons from Spyro, however, look like they aren't as heavy, Spyro and Cynder definately look lithe, but then the guardians do look heavier. Magic could play a role in it or they could basically use nothing but physical characteristics, such as hollow or porous bones filled with air, or the hydrogen bladder mentioned above.

Well...I was so tempted to go into an indepth description that explains that its because dragons are made out of marshmallow that allows them to fly, but I refrained from doing it lol.

~cornys~ · May 30, 2009 3:59 AM

lol nice.. and um yeah.. it's usless but still fun.

Spyro Master · May 30, 2009 9:15 AM

Fresh Blood: dont, cause i spent ages having that arguement with you, and ive forgotten most of mine so i cant right now XD ha ha
Would the description from the flight of dragons come into the equation here for dragons flying? Or has it been mentioned?

Fresh blood · May 30, 2009 10:02 AM

Lol I won't start the marshmallow argument again, no one really managed to disprove it to the point where it didn't make sense any more so it would be pointless to bring it back up again.
And I haven't seen Flight of Dragons all the way through, I only managed to see half of it before someone turned it off and laughed at me for watching a cartoon about dragons...I think I was only 15, I don't think that would be considered weird but there we go.

Spyro Master · May 30, 2009 10:35 AM

To be honest i dont really care what people think of me, but i havnt seen the film in ages but it has something to do with hydrogen and electricity, but the electricty bit is the fire i think XD

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Dragon's flight mechanism

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