Human-powered plane wins US prize

Jul 14, 2013 |

A Canadian-built helicopter that is powered by a human riding a bicycle has become the first winner of a decades-old $250,000 engineering prize, the US awarder said on Friday.

The American Helicopter Society had never given out its Igor Sikorsky Human-Powered Helicopter Award, initiated 33 years ago, until the team from the University of Toronto snatched it this week. The challenge was to create a flying machine that would be able to reach a height of three meters, fly for 60 seconds by human power alone, and stay in a 10 by 10 metre area. “It was long seen as impossible to win this,” AHS International executive director Mike Hirschberg said. The winning vehicle is called the Atlas, and was designed by a team of about 20 students and young professionals. The aircraft is extremely light, just 121.4 pounds, but it spans a sprawling 162 feet (49.4 meters). “This is not about creating a practical machine,” said Hirschberg. “This is to set a challenge for young engineers, to harness their creativity and technical skills and to experience working as a team against really, extremely challenging requirements,” he added.

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