The Canadian team, AeroVelo, may have won the prize for the first, man-powered helicopter flight.
Here's the tweet they sent yesterday:
"Hit 3.3 metres & 65 sec on our flight. Submitted the flight to the
American Helicopter Society; waiting for validation before commenting."
The competition requires helicopter flight, solely human-powered, to a height greater than 3-metres for a duration of 60-seconds. The helicopter has to remain within a small, 10-square metre area.
The winner takes the Sikorsky prize of $250,000. Here's the AeroVelo Atlas. The pilot is on the bicycle in the middle. It's impossible to see the structures that connect him to and drive the four rotors.
You can, indeed, see the structure if you choose 720p HD. That being said, I fail to see lift and the duration of the video is 43 seconds start to finish so it's difficult to conclude they they hit "height greater than 3-metres for a duration of 60-seconds." I hope my perceptions are wrong as it would be a great engineering achievement.
ReplyDeleteA much better view, especially in 1080 HD.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pJYISQ-EAIw
Sorry, CuJo, I didn't mean to suggest that video was of the record attempt. Yesterday's flight, from what I can find out, has gone to the competition panel for authentication. If they indeed win I think we'll see that video quite soon.
ReplyDeleteIt is nothing like I expected.
ReplyDeletehttp://kw53.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/ff1.jpg