Human-Powered Helicopter Prize Almost Within Reach

Dean Sigler Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

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 …