What is Flying: Definition and 243 Discussions

A flying saucer (also referred to as "a flying disc") is a descriptive term for a supposed type of flying craft having a disc or saucer-shaped body, commonly used generically to refer to an anomalous flying object. The term was coined in 1947 but has generally been supplanted since 1952 by the United States Air Force term unidentified flying objects (or UFOs for short). Early reported sightings of unknown "flying saucers" usually described them as silver or metallic, sometimes reported as covered with navigation lights or surrounded with a glowing light, hovering or moving rapidly, either alone or in tight formations with other similar craft, and exhibiting high maneuverability.

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  1. L

    Wright Brothers Flying Machine

    http://www.turnertoys.com/G1/MM2202bat144.jpg "The Wright Bat Vertical Flying Machine Wilbur and Orville Wright (you've heard of them) played with a wooden version of this toy in 1878. Their father, Bishop Milton Wright, bought it for them as a gift. Wind the rotor and let go - it flies up...
  2. B

    Toy Airplane Flying: Lift Force vs. Reaction Force

    Hi I've got a question concerning a previous question I've done. A person is holding a toy airplane which flys in the air with a constant radius. is the lift force the same as reaction force? is it equal to the vertical component of the centripetal force and weight force of the airplane?
  3. mbrmbrg

    Bird flying b/w colliding trains

    I'm sure there's already a thread about how else to solve the famous problem re: the distance covered by a bird flying between two trains on a collision course (other than adding up the sums, of course), but I can't find it. Can anyone give me a quick link? Thanks!
  4. D

    Relative Velocity Bird Flying Problem

    Hey. I've done this question, but my answer is only partly correct according to the answer book. Heres the question: "To a bird flying at 20km/h on a bearing of 160 degrees, the wind seems to be coming from the south at 25km/h. Find the true velocity of the wind" ok. I said that B is the...
  5. R

    Is This the Worst Google Crash in History?

    There's some horrible server errors with gmail [google mail] - it's been down for hours! It already shows up on google Trends! http://www.google.com/trends?q=error+704 Does anyone remember the last time google messed up so horribly? I don't! Must have been many eons and epochs ago. :eek:
  6. Ivan Seeking

    It looks like Tsu will be flying in a MIG

    Me too, but she gets to go first. [just to be sure it's safe :biggrin:] Details to be provided as soon as we know how it checks out. ..and now I'm supposed to sleep?
  7. N

    Electrons flying off a conductor

    There is something I don't quite understand about conductors with excess charge. I understand the rationale that says that the electrons will all be on the surface, since they are repelled by the inner electrons orbitting the atoms, and by other excess electrons...but why do they not fly off of...
  8. D

    Java Creating a Movie of My Java Animation: Flying Ball

    I have a java animation- a ball flying up and down. Please help me to turn it into a movie because I want to see how it is played in winmedia player
  9. Loren Booda

    Effect of changing gravity on flying animals

    How would the ability to fly differ if the Earth's gravitational field were to change significantly? Parameters of interest may include: weight, air density, air viscosity, climate change, evolution of flying creatures, comparison to sea creatures.
  10. Clausius2

    Flying Across America with My Firebird

    yeah, for those who have seen I've changed my avatar for a firebird, that's true, I am flying across america with a Firebird. I bought one. It's awsome. It's my firebird. It does not seem a car of a grad student, but you may take into account I am an spanish engineer, or so called "Sir Engineer"...
  11. S

    Solving the Physics Problem: Pilot Flying Over Sloping Ground

    I have this problem to do for homework for my physics class and I don't even know where to start! Could someone try to give me clues? The problem is: A pilot flies horizontally at 1300 km/h, at height h= 35 m above initially level ground. However, at time t = 0, the pilot begins to fly...
  12. Ivan Seeking

    Winter Woes: Battling Wind, Rain and Flying Branches

    I hate it when this happens! I'm down in my office and need to get up to the house, but the wind is howling, the rain has been pounding, and fairly large branches are flying around like missiles out there. They keep slamming against the walls of my office and scaring the heck of my poor little...
  13. Q

    Flying is impossible, so is timetravel.

    People in the 1800's though flying was impossible. How can you take metal weighing several tons and fly with it? But look where we are now in only 100 years. Well, so now people are saying time travel is impossible. It may be, but it just *may* be possible in the future. Maybe we do not know...
  14. I

    Flying cars from string theory ?

    Flying cars from string theory ? :) This is the link to the short story from http://motls.blogspot.com/2005/11/flying-cars-from-string-theory.html" . My comment: LOL ! But the kid seems to have potential...
  15. N

    Earth Flying Away from Sun: What Does the Math Say?

    I have seen an article about the Earth flying away from the sun due to the use of nuclear energy: the Earth becomes lighter as we convert mass into energy, therefore the sun pulls less on the earth, causing the Earth to fly away from the sun. See...
  16. S

    Solve Flying Baseball Problem: a-h

    I couldn't get my head around this problem... I'd like some input and some answers to aim towards please... I'm actually a pretty bright student, I just can't figure this out... maybe a blonde day lol? :smile: A baseball of mass 55g leaves the pitchers hand at a speed of 48m/s. THe...
  17. S

    Solve Flying Trapeze: Texas Tumblers Puzzle

    Hello everyone, I posted this yesterday, but somehow it's like the forums have changed over night so I posted them again. Here is a question I am a bit stuck on, my biggest problem is that I'm getting mixed up in the beginning, everything I try to do doesn't work for me. Here is the question...
  18. russ_watters

    Are You Personally Afraid of Flying?

    Are you afraid of flying?? Related to the thread on whether you think flying is safe, does flying scare you (regardless of whether or not you know, intellectually, that it is safe)? And no, I don't mean being afraid of things like turbulence - I mean a fear of flying itself, that manifests...
  19. K

    Have you heard of the Flying Spaghetti Monster?

    Someone mentioned this site a little while ago, but I couldn't find the original thread. http://www.venganza.org/ Low and behold, reading through the current issue of New Scientist I find this in the feedback section. http://www.newscientist.com/backpage.ns?id=mg18725112.800 Seems...
  20. wolram

    Flying Machines: Lifting Bodies & Flying Saucers

    Lifting bodies and flying saucers, are they aerodynamic or have properties that are worth pursuing?
  21. A

    No Discussions Allowed: 19th Century Flying Discovery

    breakthroughs will not be made thanks to this phorums since any breaktrough idea is not allowed here thanks to the new guidelines and i consider this sad since this is the most visited physics forum in the net
  22. A

    Ground Effect Flying: Crafting a Model with Rotors & Props

    Hey all, I was wondering if it would be possible to make a craft that used specially designed rotors or props placed under a craft that were made to take advantage of the ground effect (ie a large surface area, endcaps on them and so on) as long as stability was taken care of by way of auto...
  23. J

    Have You Seen This Amazing Flying Lawnmower?

    Whoever built it makes it look so easy. http://www.crapville.com/videos/flyinglawnmower.asp
  24. ceptimus

    Weight Change for Man Flying East to West

    A man in a plane flying due east above the equator at 600mph weighs 200 pounds. How much heavier will he weigh, if the plane turns around and flies due west?
  25. K

    Why Does an Airplane Pilot Experience Limits on Radial Acceleration?

    I tried workin this problem out.. and it's not working! :frown: --- An airplane is flying in a horizontal circle at a speed of 48.1 m/s. The 94.1 kg pilot does not want his radial acceleration to exceed 7:.39 g. The acceleration of gravity is 9.8 m/s^2 1) What is the minimum radius...
  26. rcgldr

    Birds flying in a plane, does the weight change?

    My turn for a troll question. Take a sealed box that contains air and an object in it that is either hovering, flying or gliding. The object within the box maybe be moving, but it has no vertical component of acceleration. Does the box weigh less if than it would if the object within the box...
  27. G

    Exploring Inverted Flight: Understanding Aerobatic Plane Wings

    Hi, is the wing on an aerobatic plane symetrically shaped? Is that why it can fly inverted? Is the angle of attack of the wing the same whether it's flying inverted or right-side-up?
  28. Ivan Seeking

    My UFO Report: Flying Triangle Sighting

    Here is the UFO report that I filed about four years ago - a possible flying triangle. http://www.nuforc.org/webreports/012/S12605.html Note that on the same night, some off duty policeman reported a similar object. I never knew about this until I filed my report twenty years later. For a...
  29. G

    Are Flying Triangles Real? Deciphering UFO Sightings and Technology

    Please move this post if necessary as I was not sure which forum it would be best suited to. Reference: http://space.com/businesstechnology...gle_040902.html http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5897539/ Assuming these sightings are not mass hallucinations and that a craft of unknown...
  30. Ivan Seeking

    What is the truth behind the mysterious flying triangles?

    A synopsis of recent events - 1990 through 2004. Included is a summary of archieved data. I'm still not quite sure about the flying triangle reports. I am convinced that these are real craft that are often seen as reported, but some good reports such as those from the Illinois police - who...
  31. zoobyshoe

    Uncovering the Truth: Feynman's Perspective on Flying Saucers

    "If we come to the case of flying saucers, for example, we have the difficulty that almost everybody who observes flying saucers sees something different, unless they were previously informed of what they were supposed to see. So the history of flying saucers consists of orange balls of light...
  32. Arctic Fox

    Building a Flying Disk with ElectroGrav Theories: Tips & Ideas"

    I’ve been working on some electroGrav theories and am now wanting to start building models to try and test these theories. I’ve a 8ft satellite dish that I was thinking on using as a mold, but have no good ideas on how to go about this. As like a “UFO”, I need to create a top and bottom...
  33. R

    Have you heard of The Flying Circus of Physics?

    Reading this forum made me think about a book I picked up years ago called The Flying Circus of Physics with Answers written by Jearl Walker. It is an excellent book that answers lots of general physics questions that poeple ask. If you never heard of it, look it up, I think many of you will...
  34. O

    Voyager: How Did They Navigate Unknown Worlds?

    Something struck me as confusing, and I'm sure it's just that I don't have enough information yet. The Voyager mission found MANY surprises in the planets they studied. In fact, it seems they were wrong about more than they were right about, not to mention all they found out that they simply...
  35. Ivan Seeking

    Paul Moller's Skycar: Will It Fly?

    I have been following this guy for about as long as I can remeber. I told an aerospace engineering friend about Moller's claims and he started to laugh. What do you think? Is Moller going to pull this off, is he overreaching, or is this a scam? He is now taking orders. I saw a TV news report...
  36. Jonathan

    Poll: Flying Snakes in "Credibility of Greek Thinkers

    I wanted to know what the general consensus was on the nature of the flying snakes talked about in the Credibility of Greek Thinkers thread. IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE 'CREDIBILITY OF GREEK THINKERS' THREAD YET, DON'T VOTE UNTIL YOU HAVE. Thank You!
  37. P

    A Question about Flying Clothes Pegs

    When we press down a clothes peg (those big, plastic ones), and then let our fingers slip off it, the clothes peg will snap close and fly forward. Which force and its components are responsible for this forward motion?
  38. Rockdog

    How High Does a Rocket Go in a Physics Experiment?

    In an experiment in physics class, a model solid-fueled rocket is fired vertically with an acceleration of 5 m/sec2 for 7 seconds. After that time, it's fuel is exhausted and it continues upwards as a free fall particle. (Take upwards to be the positive direction.) a) What is the maximum...
  39. Ivan Seeking

    Is Sarfatti's Theory of Backactivity the Key to Understanding Flying Saucers?

    Here is a link from my database that I have never reviewed. Does this go to the UFO Napster or the Bologna hall of fame? http://www.fourmilab.to/goldberg/saucers.html
  40. Ivan Seeking

    Going Hypersonic: Flying FALCON for Defense

    "The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the United States Air Force (USAF) are seeking contractors to build an unmanned hypersonic aircraft capable of reaching any point on the world map in about two hours. Though initially a creature of war, such an aircraft could eventually...
  41. D

    Can a powerful capacitor be used to create a flying machine?

    A couple of days ago while i was thinking about several stuff an idea came to me. Here goes. Imagine you have a really powerfull capacitor that has enough power to accelerate an electron to the speed of light, when the electron is put to the negative plate. The electron would never reach the...
  42. K

    Flying Rods: A Fascinating Enigma

    Flying Rods I strongly believe that flying rods are evoluted on earth, not from the outer space as I don't think they can build any spaceships, nor pass through the atmosphere without getting burnt. However I'm wondering how come they can fly so fast that we can hardly see them with our...
  43. S

    Discussing Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs)

    Same idea. Have any comments, info, etc. on UFO's, please post here. Thanks.
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