I have skinny legs and my torso is heavier and I am in ok shape. I have noticed as I get older that it is easier when I am getting around a 3D environment that I know well, to gyroscope my torso and arms, and shift most of the effort of getting around to my upper body, and let my legs just sort of act as adaptive cushions between me and the floor/stairs etc. I imagine the first feathered dinosaurs must have experienced something similar as their legs got skinnier and their upper bodies and appendages grew longer feathers. Why not experiment with artificial feathers as a strategy for orientation and mobility? You could select a group of disabled veterans who had lost a certain percentage of their lower body that allowed them to be mobile but not have as much weight or dexterity on the lower half of their body and who were still young and prone to play and acrobatics, and then experiment with different strategies for including feathers in a wing suit.

One thing to do would be to include the fractally nature of feathers -- shafts, barbs, barbules and hooklets -- in the artificial design. Another thing would be to make them completely form fitting in their down position and have them open and increase in resistance in response to movement and air resistance. Another would be to include the s-curve design of the outer and inner vanes. If you could do this in one material it would be ideal probably. Anyway you could just get a bunch of guys with a lot of energy to burn off to wear feathers and jump around skateboard park like environments with padding and help design stuff. Sounds like fun to me.
-- JesusHChrist, Apr 03 2014

//Why not experiment with artificial feathers ...You could select a group of disabled veterans//

I just know this is going to go so well.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Apr 04 2014



random, halfbakery