Regarding the biology of flying

[Alan McIntire]

I recently watched a rerun of "Jurassic World" on TV. Seeing the pterodactyl attack, I got to thinking;
Is there a formula to determine the maximum weight a flying bird, bat, pterodactyl, or whatever can have given the force of gravity g at the planet's surface, and the atmospheric pressure?

 

[jedishrfu]

Check this presentation it derives a formula for that:

https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/materia...ering-fall-2005/projects/flght_of_brdv2ed.pdf

 

[Alan McIntire]

Check this presentation it derives a formula for that:

Thank you for the link. When I was watching the Pterodactyl attack, I thought it was unbelievable that any living creature could pick up a grown human.

The Texas Pterosaurs were supposed to have a mass of 100 up to 200 Kg. Nowadays, the most massive flying bird is the Kori Bustard, with a mass of about 20 Kg. I don't think more massive fliers can exist with our current atmosphere.