Building a Human Powered Helicopter

Da Vinci would be proud.

Students at the University of Maryland will be testing their design for a human-powered helicopter this Wednesday, May 11. 

The team is attempting to win the Sirkosky Challenge. This is a challenge proposed by the American Helicopter Society in 1980 with a prize of $250,000. In order to win, the team’s flight machine must

• use only human power
• be off the ground for at least 60 seconds
• reach a minimum 3 meter altitude during the flight
• stay within a 10 meter box

While many man-powered aircraft have been produced, making a man-powered helicopter is quite difficult, as explained in the really cool video about the project shown below.

Best of luck to the team! I’m very curious to see how this turns out.