I'm not sure of the exact dimensions, but take a look at a picture of an angel, some of them are ex-humans with wings.

Well I don't have an exact answer but here are a few facts Bald eagle - weight up to 15 lb, wingspan up to 8.5 feet Osprey - weight up to 4.5 lb, wingspan up to 4.5 feet. from this small sample I see that for every 3 times increase in weight the wingspan increases by a factor of 2. It would take someone who is better at math than me to figure out how large the wingspan for a human would have to be, but it would probably vary with the individual human's weight. sorry i couldn't be more help.

Believe it or not I do actually want to know this for a very good reason so I set about doing some research and have discovered this page: http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=40915&page=1 inconclusive, but interesting if you fancy a look.

Look at hang-gliders: they are essentially strap-on wings which allow people to glide. If we had the musculature to flap them, they would probably be able to provide the necessary lift; if we put on quite a small moter, they lift quite well. Which means that the wings on conventionally drawn angels are probably too small if the angels as much as humans.

Think about a hang glider..people can fly on those for hours in the desert by catching up-drafts. Assuming we could flap our wings, then the wings would be slightly smaller. Hang Gliding may give you an idea of how big our wings would have to be. excerpt from: http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=40915&page=1

Even if you had a large enough wing area, you still have a problem. Humans don't posess the right type of muscle tissue nor the strength to use a wing, if it were attached in place of an arm. We'd make a glider is all. Proper flight would still be impossible. Edit: Thanks Darkling

It would take more than wings. You would need chest muscles four feet thick, and much bigger and more efficient lungs, a stronger heart... hollow bones would help... and there would be no reason to carry around a three-pound brain when a bird brain is perfectly adequate.

Well, my name is Ramon Valentin and someone once told me why kids aren't afraid of some stuff like jumping from high altitudes or getting hit by a car, etc. That means that if you do not consider the fats and truly do it with to certainty that you will fly, it would wok. I have prepared a model that would fit any human and is still in tests, but i tried it at the beach with a lot of wind, and just opening both 3 ft. long wings( 3 ft. each )I was able to float for like two minutes. My arms got tired and the wind was inpredictible and I was like 7 1/2 feet lifted up in the air, so I fell on the sand. With a little more excersice, and a better phisycal condition, I think that we can just lift off and actually fly. anyody interested in really flying, could suggest something and we could work toghether. I hold a temporary patent on this model. I expires in june 2007. My email is icshatillo-ryen@yahoo.es . Hope to hear from someone really interested. We could really do this and earn money at the same time.

I have a very interesting theory, on humans flying, anything in life is possible, I Have a idea on making this happen without a engine, just useing human strength to fly, yes it involves wings, and yes i can make them wings move with enough strength to gain lift, i've had this idea now for a while, and i am glad that there are people out there that are also thinking down these lines, (not including the pesimists), anybody seriously looking into making history, then please feel free to contact me at chris@eppspainters.co.uk. I'll be honest and confirm that i haven't even gone into making a model yet, but i can't let my idea rest any longer, have to know wheather i can do this. And no i am not crazy.

Assume an eagle is 15-lbs 8.5ft Osprey is 4.5 and 4.5 That is a difference of 3+1/3 in weight to 1+8/9 size Assume you are 180-lbs You are 40X than an Osprey That is 3.0639 Orders of 3+1/3 (logb(3+1/3)(40)) That means you are 3.0639 powers of 1+8/9. 7.0189 Times larger than an Osprey or 31.585ft If you are 100lbs than you would have 23.15ft wingspan 250lbs... 37.57ft Conclusion, the heavier you are the bigger your wings (The harder you fall)

ok lets see . . . as to the size of wings to support average human weight . . . well to lift 200 lbs. you'd need a 14 ft. span a 42 in. chord a 24.5% chord camber thickness tapering from 2.205 in. at start to .5 in. at the end and a 5 % angle of attack for maximum lift . . . the only problem is you'd have to hit 23 mph. to get up in the air . . .so find a way to flap em fast enough and your set

your chest would have to change to make a counter weight to balance you out. plus your bones would have to be hollow.

you cant simply look at the wing span to weight ratio that was the theory behind the fact that a bee cannot fly because its wing span is to short for how much it weighs. but if you have a rotating wing as opposed to a flapping wing the wing span can be much shorter.

unorthadoxx has a good point. we are so fixated on looking like angels we forgot about all the other things in nature that can fly. like big fat wasps, lady bugs and moths. granit insects don't have circitorly systems that transport energy and oxeygen to the mucels and tissue, they use osmoses. but it doesn't mean we csnt adapt and use those. i don't know about you but i weigh 98 pounds and am 5'3" and DO NOT want 20 feet of wings on my back. itwould be like piggy backing an 8 year old

have you seen Xman 3?

To fly like and eagle your wing span would have to be about 30 feet. But let me say that there are many ways to "fly" with wings. If you could move forward fast enough, you can get lift with smaller wings. Like and airplane. The wings would have to be slightly curved at the top to create the pressure difference that creates lift. If you can flap your wings fast enough like a bee you can also achieve lift with small strong light wings. You can also glide and catch updrafts... It takes more skill. Most birds know how to do it inherently. The material makes a different. The flapping motion makes a difference as well.

you would also need to account for the extra weight of the wings, when those birds were weighed they most likely had their wings in tact. if you somehow made a 31.565 feet wingspan for a 180 lb person and had the skill you might still fail because of the added weight of the wings. i dunno for sure but lets just say the weight of an eagles wing is 1 lb each. 2lb eagle wingspan / 13lb eagle body (without wings) * 180lb human body (without wings) = 27.69 lb human wingspan. therefore resulting in a 207.69 lbs overall and needing about an extra 2.5-3 feet of wingspan. this would also assume that the wing weight to the body weight is proportional

Greetings all, this is a question that has plagued me for some time, i wish to see, nay wish to BE a winged human (homo-avian?), the following may be a little difficult to follow but here goes. Ive used the Andean Condor as a base (being one of the largest flying birds) aprox wingspan - 292cm (1 wing - 146cm) weight - 13kg body length - 126cm wing length (2/3rd body length) - 84cm Wing area - length x width 146 x 84 12 264cm squared (24528cm for both wings) now calculating weight and surface ratio is... 24528 : 13 1886.8 :1 Therefore it requires 1886.8 square cm of surface to hold 1 kg aloft. now ill be using my height and weight for the next bit so it will vary if you use different heights and weights. wingspan - (x) weight - 66kg length (height) - 200cm wing area - (y) wing width - 133cm (2/3rds of length remember) Using the previously found ratio 1:1886.8 1886.8 x 66 = 124528.8 = (y) my weight requires 124528.8 square cm to keep aloft area = wingspan x width 124528.8 = (x) x 133 (x) = 124528.8/133 (x) = 936.3 From these calculations i would need a wingspan of 936cm from tip to tip and about 133cm wide at the midpoint These numbers are approximates because a wing isn't a square so length x width doesn't give the best numbers, but its something, if anyone cares to add to what i have written, or if Ive done something wrong point it out please, and hopefully we will see people flying around instead of driving (just think how much you would save on fuel o.O) I hope all that made sense to you out there :)

They would have too be long and a little wider than what we are depending on how we would be able too use them control that matters also -Darius Denzel Wesley

For sustained flight, look at the human-powered aircraft that have been built and flown in the last 30 years or so. First was the Gossamer Condor (if I remember right), and later that was a design by the same fellow, Paul MacCready), which crossed the English channel. This should give you a rough idea.

If you read science fiction you run across a lot of interesting research. For instance if you had a tank on the moon where gravity is 1/6 of Earth's, and you could pump the air up to three times Earth's density, then you would be able to strap on wings and fly by your own muscle power.