UM’s human-powered helicopter takes flight
Posted: 2:32 pm Thu, July 14, 2011
By
The Gamera, a human-powered helicopter built by students at the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering, achieved an unofficial flight duration of 12.4 seconds during a flight test Wednesday at the Reckord Armory at the university’s College Park campus.
If verified by the National Aeronautic Association, this new time will eclipse the Gamera’s previous 4.2-second flight in May, which set a U.S. national record. The students are attempting to win the $250,000 Sikorski Prize, established in 1980 and not yet awarded.
It requires the helicopter to fly for one minute within a 10-meter-square area, reaching an altitude of three meters.
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Comments
Great work Judy et al.
I have written a screenplay – Flyboy which is a fictionalized story of a 17 year old Chicano who earns his way into Stanford by actually winning the Sikorski Prize.
Anyone out there with $1,000,000.