After 30 Years, $250,000 Prize Finally Claimed

What Was The Prize Money For? A Human Powered Helicopter.

You read correctly. Human powered helicopter.

I'm sure that when Igor I. Sikorsky and the American Helicopter Society first offered up the original prize money (originally much less than $250,000) He didn't think it would take 30 years before it was accomplished. The Sikorsky prize represents a monumental challenge that requires a level of aerodynamic efficiency that is unheard of in commercial helicopters.

Nevertheless a young group of Canadians with the team name AeroVelo has made aviation history by keeping their contraption hovering at an altitude of 3 meters for at least one minute. The team's quad copter design was created from a frame made of carbon-fiber/Vectran while the blades of the Atlas were made from polystyrene, balsa wood and polyester film. These elements were then tied together by a bicycle at the center of the machine.

Dr. Todd Reichert, one of the leaders of the team, pedaled to lift the Atlas for 64.11 seconds. The craft reached an altitude of 10.8 feet and drifted only 32 feet during the flight, which took place June 13, 2013 in a field house in Vaughan Ontario.



"No one knows better than we do the enormously difficult engineering and human performance challenges that must be overcome in order to meet these flight requirements." the team said in a statement. "We salute this historic accomplishment of the AeroVelo team and the intense dedication, innovation, research and hard work we know it required."