flight control
- The role of lateral optic flow cues in hawkmoth flight control
Summary: Hummingbird hawkmoths use optic flow similarly to flies and bees to control their position, but not their speed, in flight tunnel experiments.
- Avian surface reconstruction in free flight with application to flight stability analysis of a barn owl and peregrine falcon
Summary: A novel photogrammetry method to reconstruct the surface geometry of flying birds is presented and used to analyse the gliding flight of a barn owl and peregrine falcon.
- Avoiding topsy-turvy: how Anna's hummingbirds (Calypte anna) fly through upward gusts
Summary: Hummingbirds flying through intense upward gusts experience pronounced downward pitching motions (i.e. nose dives). In response, they interrupt flapping, hold the wings dorsally, and angle and fan the tail.
- Differences in spatial resolution and contrast sensitivity of flight control in the honeybees Apis cerana and Apis mellifera
Summary: Closely related honeybee species exhibit surprising differences in their spatial resolution and contrast sensitivity when controlling flight.
- Asymmetry costs: effects of wing damage on hovering flight performance in the hawkmoth Manduca sexta
Summary: Asymmetric wing damage in hawkmoths is approximately twice as costly as symmetric damage.
- Flight control of fruit flies: dynamic response to optic flow and headwind
Summary: Measurement and characterisation of the dynamic flight response of fruit flies reveal that their flight controller weighs visual and wind stimuli approximately equally, to produce flight thrust and adjust the pitch of the abdomen.
- Optic flow stabilizes flight in ruby-throated hummingbirds
Summary: Ruby-throated hummingbirds appear to use optic flow to stabilize flight, similar to insects, by rotating with and following projected moving patterns in a flight arena.
- Pitch perfect: how fruit flies control their body pitch angle
Summary: High-speed videography of free-flying Drosophila reveals their active control mechanism for counter-pitching perturbations, which is rapid, robust and consistent with linear control theory.
- A visual horizon affects steering responses during flight in fruit flies
Summary: During flight, fruit flies track visual features more strongly if they dip below a visual horizon, consistent with using the horizon to judge distance.
- Haltere mechanosensory influence on tethered flight behavior in Drosophila
Summary: Fly mechanosensory organs influence wing-steering responses to visual stimuli in a context-dependent way.