> nobody wants to experiment throwing themselves out over a cliff with prototype wings that will likely get them killed.

Actually, not a few people did exactly that! If they had used a scaled-up paper plane, they might have lived. Or think of a modern hang-glider, but made from bamboo and silk.

He wasn't testing wings, but you make me think of this poor, brave man.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Reichelt#Eiffel_Tower_ju...

You didn't need to throw yourself off a cliff though. Just think of something like Jockey's Ridge.

I mean, an improvement, but that just means that you'll be killed when your wings half work (enough to lift you into the air high enough that the fall will kill you) rather than when your wings don't work at all.