The barn owl’s tail has an unexpectedly important role to play in making the bird more aerodynamic, a finding that suggests small aircraft such as drones could benefit from tails too
The barn owl’s tail has an unexpected role in flight by making the bird more aerodynamic, which may have implications for drone design.
“We were standing in the lab and we went, ‘Hmm, textbooks don’t say that should be happening behind the tail,’ but we saw it there,” says Usherwood. The animal likely achieves this feat by using the tail to affect airflow over the wings themselves, says Usherwood. At an average slow gliding speed of 28 kilometres per hour, optimal lift and minimal drag occur when the tail feathers are fanned out, and a line following the outer edge of each side of this fan forms an 18 degree angle with the bird’s midline – while the tail tilts down 23 degrees from the horizontal.
This biological design runs counter to common industrial aeronautical designs for smaller aircraft, which often aim to reduce drag by avoiding the use of tails altogether, says Usherwood. Whereas large, fast-flying aircraft might not benefit from reduced drag through tail posture, smaller craft including drones that fly at slower speeds and hover might experience less drag if they followed the owl’s model.
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