The distance was small but the accomplishment was great.

Todd Reichert, a PhD student at the University of Toronto, flew for 476 feet in an engineless plane with a 105 ft wing span using a foot pump to make the aircraft’s wings flap.  He believes he has achieved the first sustained flight in a human-powered, wing-flapping aircraft.

Reichert said his aircraft, called Snowbird “represents the completion of an age-old aeronautical dream. Throughout history, countless men and women have dreamt of flying like a bird under their own power, and hundreds, if not thousands have attempted to achieve it,” he said in a statement.

“This represents one of the last of the aviation firsts.”