The goals seem so simple… These are the requirements for winning the A. H. Sikorsky Prize for a successful human-powered helicopter (HPH).
• Build a helicopter powered only by human means
• Lift off and achieve a hover time of 60 seconds
• Achieve a height of 3 meters sometime during the 60 second flight
• Stay within a 10 square meter area during the 60 second flight
Toward those goals, the Gamera Project involves students of the Clark School of Engineering and faculty advisors from the Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft Center in the Clark School’s Department of Aerospace Engineering.
Their Gamera II flew in June and August this year and was designed by students to make an official flight duration record attempt on the Sikorsky Prize for the first human-powered helicopter to exceed a minute duration and fly at an altitude of 10 feet. According the Gamera Project web site, “On August 9, 2012, NAA (National Association of Aeronautics) announced that on June 21, 2012 Gamera II set a new official U.S. record for flight duration of 49.9 seconds. The association is submitting the flight for world-record review by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.” This was a 400-percent better duration than that for Gamera I, which managed a flight of 11.4 seconds in 2011 and was reported in this blog last year.
Unofficially, Gamera II stayed up 65 seconds in a later flight as shown in the video and that record is awaiting certification.
The team is also awaiting certification of an altitude record. Both duration and altitude must meet award criteria for the team to win the $250,000 pledged by Sikorsky Aircraft. We wish them continued good health and good fortune.