A Canadian aerospace engineer duo has accomplished a 1980 dare to create an aircraft that was powered by a human, could reach 3 meters in altitude and hover for at least a minute. Although the task was attempted by dozens of teams in the past, none won the 250,000 dollars Sikorsky Prize, set up by the American Helicopter Society, apart from Todd Reichert and Cameron Robertson, CNN reported. The pair won the prize with their 64-second flight in an indoor athletic arena outside Toronto. While Robertson kept an eye on the flight’s progress from the ground, Reichert powered their aircraft by pedaling bicycle-like equipment that twirled four enormous rotors. Robertson told the publication that although there’s not a lot of practicality to their work because one can’t fly human-powered helicopter to work, but all of their projects challenge people’s conventional way of thinking. Reichert and Robertson are also pioneers of perhaps the first flapping-wing aircraft, powered by a human, to sustain flight.
——ANI