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 …
Gamera II Does 50 Seconds
The University of Maryland students established an unofficial world record for human-powered helicopter flight, hovering for 50 seconds and edging toward the $250,000 Sikorsky Prize offered by the American Helicopter Society. The rules for winning are straightforward, but difficult to achieve. 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 As can be seen in last year’s record attempt, the altitude and area constraints are difficult, with little control over altitude other than adding power – already at a human maximum, and limited ability to stay within that imaginary box. According to the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering, “Gamera has a rotor at each of the four ends of its X-shaped frame, with the pilot’s module suspended at the middle. Each crossbar of …