Backward flying, also known as reverse flying, is a

locomotive A locomotive is a rail transport, rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, Push–pull train, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for ...

phenomenon where the object

flies Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwin ...

in the opposite of its intended flight direction.

Different fields

Biology

In nature, there are very few organisms who can fly in such manner, making the phenomenon very rare. In the class

Aves Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight ...

(birds), there is only one family,

Trochilidae Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the Family (biology), biological family Trochilidae. With approximately 366 species and 113 genus, genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but most species are found in Cen ...

(hummingbirds) where the backward flying phenomenon can be found. In the class

Insecta Insects (from Latin ') are hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed leg ...

(insects), in the infraorder

Anisoptera A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of dragonflies are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threatens ...

(dragonflies), genus Hemaris (bee hawk-moths) and order

Diptera Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advance ...

(true flies), species with this ability can be also found. There are also some species that don't use the traditional wing flapping mechanism to fly backwards. One such example is the Japanese flying squid, which uses a jet propulsion mechanism for backward flying.

Technology

In technology, there are some

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

that can fly backwards. One example is

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

Efficiency

There is no difference in the efficiency between forward flying and backward flying. Although, it was originally thought that backward flying would be much less efficient.

Similar phenomena

Similar to backward flying, backward gliding phenomenon also exists in nature. An example of organism that can backward glide is ''

Cephalotes atratus ''Cephalotes'' is a genus (biology), genus of arboreal, tree-dwelling ant species from the Americas, commonly known as turtle ants. All appear to be gliding ants, with the ability to "parachute" and steer their fall so as to land back on the tre ...

'' (kaka-sikikoko).

Notes

References

{{Reflist Flight