Backward flying

In nature, there are very few organisms who can fly in such manner, making the phenomenon very rare.^{[citation needed]} In the class Aves (birds), there is only one family, Trochilidae (hummingbirds)^[1] where the backward flying phenomenon can be found. In the class Insecta (insects), in the infraorder Anisoptera (dragonflies),^[1] genus Hemaris (bee hawk-moths)^[a][2] and order Diptera (true flies), species with this ability can be also found.^[3]

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.^[4][5]

In technology, there are some aircraft that can fly backwards.^{[citation needed]} One example is helicopters.^[6]

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.^[1]

Similar to backward flying, backward gliding^[b] phenomenon also exists in nature.^{[citation needed]} An example of organism that can backward glide is Cephalotes atratus (kaka-sikikoko).^[7]