So you think you can fly.

So you think you can fly

  

         Ever since the Wright Brothers took flight in 1903 feats of aviation have become endless- from Charles Lindbergh’s trans-Atlantic flight in 1927 to the relatively recent non-stop around the world balloon voyage in 1999.

          There is one milestone that is still out there.  In 1980 the American Helicopter Society International created a $25,000 prize for the first aviator to:

1.                                                                               stay air borne for 60 seconds

2.                                                                               reach an altitude of more than 10 feet

3.                                                                               and hover without drifting more than 1,076              square feet

-                                                                                                                   all in a machine powered by nothing other than the human body.

         The prize grew recently to $250,000 after the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation took it under its corporate wings.  Now two teams are close after battling for the prize for years.  This weekend students from the University of Maryland will conduct flight trials for their GAMERA II XR.  The contraption has four giant blades that twirl below a recumbent style bike.  In the past it has hovered 65 seconds but it only got 9 feet off the ground. The other team is in Canada.  Students from the University of Toronto have built their own machine the ATLAS.  It has made it as high as ten feet but stayed airborne only 47 seconds.  There machine looks more like a conventional bike.  The pilot can pedal standing up for additional power.

           So if you ever wanted to fly put your engineering skills to a test and design your own machine.  Who knows your idea could win the $250,000 prize.