Sci-fi- creating a flying angel (and other powers)

What kind of modifications would one have to do to give a human the ability to fly? I know it isn't possible with the technology of today, but suspension of disbelief goes some way. What kind of operations and things? I'm thinking that the muscle mass would have to go down, and perhaps get rid of other unneeded weight- the appendix can be removed. Skeleton replacement to a lighter one (Of course, this would affect a huge number of things- blood cell regeneration, growth changes, etc.) but it could be one that can somehow regenerate similar to a real one- perhaps a superstrong organic carbon based sort of thing. The heart and lungs would be changed to artificial ones- an electric motor type heart would remove the heartbeat altogether, just pumping the blood continually. The wings would have to be connected to the brain to send signals, and the wings would have to be big enough to support flight. (so much bigger than what you see on book covers these days- but how big, I'm not sure.) Also, the immune response to a foreign thing coming into contact with the body is another issue. The explanation doesn't have to be too detailed as to how the operation is done, but I need the main points covered- what else is there in how to make someone fly?

Also, (for bonus points since it is going this far) what semi-realistic powers can be given to a human? I've got cat's eyes to see in the dark, claws that can come out of the fingertips (not that realistic), and non-decaying replacement teeth that will be integrated-there are others, certainly.

Helix said:

I'm not sure the appendix makes all that much difference to weight.

You could use birds as your model, but it might be worth having a look at the anatomy and physiology of flying foxes (Pteropus).

Or just stick your humans in ultralights.

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The appendix probably won't do much, but every penny counts, right?

I did see some books on birds- they have really big wings relative to their bodies, and their bones are hollow. I think that part can be crossed over. Bat structure could be an alternative, but I think it has more of a limit to how big the wings can get. I think the limit would be too small.

Gotta do it the hard way, dem ultralights would be cheating :'(

I think maybe going partway-not making the whole body made for flying, but perhaps using the arms as well to help in flight, might make a difference? But that's kinda unwieldy.

Helix said:

Birds and bats have different ways of powering the wings. It involves more than just the size of wings and the fine structure of the bones. With birds, there's a sort of pulley system with the two sets of pectoral muscles providing power for the up and down strokes of the wings. There's also substantial fusion of bones to provide rigidity for to offset the impact of wing beats.

With bats, which are closer to humans in basic structure, the up and down strokes of the wings are created by the shoulder and back muscles. If you've ever been close to a flying fox in action, you'll see that they have very big wings in relation to the body size.

In both types of animals, the down stroke is the one that's most important in flight, of course, so you'll have to think about how to power that without creating something that is too heavy to lift off.

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I think bionic assisted power can help. But, using the bat structure seems more promising than the bird one, I think the forearm bit can be extended as well. I think that there is more parts of the human body that can be used similar to a bat rather than being a dead weight and useless to flight than the bird structure. Although aesthetically speaking, the bird one seems better to me. I think that the wings would have to be bigger in proportion to the body than a bat or bird, since it is not suited for flying. Maybe I can guesstimate.

I think that if the power per wingbeat were increased, then the wingspan could be reduced; as power goes up, wingspan goes down. Or as the number of wingbeats per unit of time goes up, wings can get smaller as well, like a hummingbird. Or even insects; that would be a better example. But in that case, it seems like having smaller wings in relation to body size only works moreso as overall size decreases. In addition, the flight cannot be sustained long- I expect the cardiovascular system would be similar to a sprinter's, considering the weight of a human in relation to a bird. Perhaps making it like that would be more doable? At this point, I'm thinking the setup would be big wings, low wingbeats, short flight time. Perhaps a bit like a glider that needs an occasional boost (using a wingbeat in this case) and a locking mechanism similar to an albatross to conserve energy and extend flight time without relying on more power.

King Neptune said:

You might want to look at some of the larger flying things. The Andean condor weighs 33 pounds and has a 10 foot wingspan, so you might be able to scale that up for 100 pound humans. They'd have twenty to thirty foot wingspans, and like the condors, they would prefer windy areas where the winds could help to keep them aloft. Maing the wings wider with longer feathers might help, because total area of the wings would be significant, and feathers are lighter than skin and bones.

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/andean-condor/

Flying foxes are too small to be useful, but they show a different method.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FK9tWT5pA4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_flying_fox

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I think simply scaling up might not work, as physics doesn't work that way. For example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioYE_6Lx_hA (too bad Clarkson got suspended)
This is why cells, bugs, birds, etc. have a size limit. Then again, since the flight doesn't have to be as long or fast or as good as a real creature, it kind of cancels that bit out. Although how much, I don't really know. But it would have to big for sure. Thanks for the link.

Quetzalcoatlus was the biggest creature capable of flight apparently. There is still debate as to how it flew, but one school of thought is how I envision this scenario: "Habib believes that large pterosaurs most likely utilized a short burst of powered flight in order to then transition to thermal soaring."- Wikipedia. Basically power up to air, then mostly glide for the remainder like an albatross.

Alright, so I think I'll give a basic scientific explanation and follow basic principles, and not go too much into it. That generally seems like the best way to go about it. Thanks for all the help!

Euphoric Mania said:

A difficult question.

I make somewhat of a hobby out of trying to make fantasy creatures physically possible. That means I try to design things like dragons and gryphons so that they'd be able to physically function in our world without magic and without altering the laws of physics. I do some reading now and then on the net, to figure this stuff out (I am by no means a physicist or whatever, lol. But you'd be surprised what Google will tell you.)

One of those things you might think about is wing placement. In a dragon, for instance, it's rather clumsy to have the wings at the front of the body; as someone once said, it creates a "butt dragging dragon", which I agree is somewhat unsightly (it's seen in a lot of art. Grates on my nerves.) So the correction for that mistake would be to move the wings back on the body, and modify their structure to balance the creature in flight.

It would probably be a similar concept in a humanoid creature.

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Yeah, a 50:50 weight distribution would be ideal. Working in an auto body repair shop with my father, I remember having to jack the car up, but it was near the front where we used the jack; the engine took up most of the weight. To figure it out the balancing point for a human, I'll be using the most scientifically accurate method known: planking