BYU's team has developed a fixed-wing MAV that weighs about as much as a penny. A MAV costs about $1,500 to make, mostly because of the video cameras necessary for navigation and surveillance.

The ornithopters built by BYU and U. students resemble birds more convincingly than da Vinci's designs.

"It's fun to watch them fly because they appear like birds," Bowman said. "I've seen videos of ornithopters that run out of power and land, and a bird approaches it and tries to coax back into flight."

Constructing an ornithopter presents excellent educational challenges, said Mike French, a BYU senior from Beaverton, Ore.

"With a conventional airplane, the propeller provides the thrust and the wings provide the lift, but with an ornithopter, the wings provide both the thrust and the lift," French said. "This makes it harder to design and build an ornithopter because you can't modify the two components needed for flight in isolation. Any little change you make to an ornithopter affects both components."

The flying field is near the place where the Jordan River connects with Utah Lake. For more specific directions, visit www.utahvalleyaeromodelers.com/field/map.html.

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