Feathered Pilots

Listen

You are the pilot of a Boeing 767 airliner, bringing the great ship in for a landing. Approaching the airport, you extend the slat on the leading edge of each wing so that you have more lift as your speed slows. As the runway nears, you raise the nose of the plane to catch more air. In the final moments of landing you bring the feathers, which act as air breaks, out of the wing to reduce your lift and settle easily onto the runway.

Yet without any training, young birds do this very same thing every day. High-speed photography has revealed that birds follow each one of these sequences as they approach and land. First, as they prepare to land, they slow their speed and increase their lift by extending and lowering the front part of the wing. Then, to slow even more, they angle their body from a horizontal flying position to a more upright angle. Finally, they drop the feathers on the back of their wing - after which the plane's feathers are named - to settle nicely on a tree branch, with virtually no effort at all.

Yes, the principles of flight, refined by over 80 years of man's experience, were simply taught to the birds by our loving Creator. What a wonderful testimony birds offer to the work of our Creator!