Human-Powered Helicopter Sets World Record (VIDEO)
A group of university students are rejoicing after the claim to have broken the record with their human-powered helicopter.
A group of students at the University of Maryland claim to have broken the record for the amount of time that a human-powered helicopter has stayed in the air. The group calls their helicopter the Gamera II.
The team hails form Maryland's A. James Clark School of Engineering and is one of three groups who set out to build a human-powered helicopter. The current record for in air time is held by a previous Maryland group that managed to stay afloat for 11.4 seconds last July.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
The contest is part of the American Helicopter Society Igor I. The society hold an annual Sikorsky Human-Powered Helicopter Competition, which bares the prize of $250,000 for the winner.
"To win the prize, a human-powered helicopter must lift off and hover for 60 seconds and must attain an altitude of at least 3 meters, almost 10 feet, at some point during the 60-second flight," the UPI Science news site reported.
The group for the Gamera II now believes they hold the unofficial record after managing to keep their helicopter airborne for a total of 50 seconds.
"The Gamera II helicopter is pedal-powered, with four 42-foot rotors at each end of a 60-foot central X-shaped frame. Made with balsa, foam, mylar, and carbon fiber, the vehicle weighs 101 pounds," UPI reported.
More than just a record for the competition, the team may also have achieved a world record.
"Over the last few days we have witnessed top Clark School student engineers flying an amazing craft they designed and built, resulting in an unofficial new world record of 50 seconds," Clark School Dean Darryll Pines stated. "If you want to know where to find the future or engineering and great new technologies that will make our lives better, this is it."
