First (?) human powered helicopter flight

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SUMMARY

The forum discussion centers on the achievements of human-powered helicopters, specifically highlighting the Gamera flight on May 13, 2011, which achieved an unofficial lift-off of 3-5 inches for 4-6 seconds. The conversation clarifies that previous flights, such as Da Vinci III in 1989 and Yuri-I in 1994, had set records for human-powered flight, with Yuri-I still holding the record for 7.9 inches for 19.46 seconds. The media's portrayal of Gamera as the first human-powered helicopter flight is misleading, as it is the first officially certified flight, while earlier attempts were not recognized as such.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of human-powered flight principles
  • Familiarity with the AHS Sikorsky Prize criteria
  • Knowledge of rotorcraft dynamics and ground effect
  • Awareness of historical human-powered flight attempts
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the AHS Sikorsky Prize and its requirements for human-powered flight
  • Explore the engineering behind the Gamera helicopter design
  • Study the dynamics of rotorcraft and the significance of ground effect
  • Investigate previous human-powered flight records, focusing on Da Vinci III and Yuri-I
USEFUL FOR

Aerospace engineers, aviation enthusiasts, and students studying human-powered flight mechanics will benefit from this discussion, as it provides insights into the history and technical challenges of human-powered helicopters.

AerospaceEng
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Small accomplishment but hopefully it'll lead to greater things, here's the video:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/video/tech-22186835/calif-students-build-musical-robots-then-jam-25217074.html
 
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Engineering news on Phys.org


The video of helicopter has to be selected from the images below the main video.
 


Oh I didn't realize, thanks borek.
 


You should change the title because it is misleading - not true!

This one (Gamera) was the 3d official flight in May 13 2011 and "achieved unofficial lift-off of 3-5 inches and hover time of approximately 4 to 6 seconds."

("The Clark School expects to receive word on certification early next week (this week) and will issue a complete release at that time.")The 1st successful flight was from Da Vinci III which reached 8 inches for 7.1 sec in 1989.

The 2nd successful flight was from Yuri-I which reached 0.2m (7.9 inches) for 19.46 sec in 1994.Here is a video of Yuri-1 (1994) which still holds the record:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNMTryyvY1Q&feature=player_embedded"

You can find more details here:http://www.humanpoweredhelicopters.org/"
 
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thanks so much the yuri was really interesting to watch. I found a more detailed video for those who are interested,

I thought this was the first human powered flight because in this video there were saying this has never been done before and then at the end they said they set a record? do they not know of the yuri and such?
 
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AerospaceEng said:
thanks so much the yuri was really interesting to watch. I found a more detailed video for those who are interested,

I thought this was the first human powered flight because in this video there were saying this has never been done before and then at the end they said they set a record? do they not know of the yuri and such?


The following is a comment from a team member (genuine or not):
"Our team certainly doesn't believe that we're the first. We're in contact with team members from the Da Vinci project, and if you watch our other "promo" video you'll see that we give a lot of credit to Yuri and other such efforts. One of the big confusions is that neither Yuri nor Da Vinci were "certified" flight attempts, and so since our flight may be the first "official" record, media (as media tends to do) may have hyped up that fact to be the first ever human powered heli. "

(From the link:http://www.flyafrica.info/forums/showthread.php?38580-Human-powered-helicopter-flies")

Their promo video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT4y4xb2UYI&playnext=1&list=PL342EC9DE5332F42F



BTW, wheel rolling has not been "officially certified" yet -anybody wants to be famous?
 
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AerospaceEng said:
thanks so much the yuri was really interesting to watch. I found a more detailed video for those who are interested,

I thought this was the first human powered flight because in this video there were saying this has never been done before and then at the end they said they set a record? do they not know of the yuri and such?


They took into consideration the Yuri very carefully. The media did a poor job calling this the first HPH, when it was in fact the first flight of the UMD HPH. The youtube comment quoted is legit. Hopefully they can do some optimization of the drive train and fly again longer later in the year. Incidentally, the guys at Cal Poly have made a VERY nice pilot station as their senior design project. I'll track down a link to that report later if you want it. It's quite a good job.
 
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The AHS Sikorsky Prize has been awarded for the AeroVelo Atlas. The June 13 flight met all of the requirements for the prize, and after review, the prize was awarded on July 11, 2013.

 
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Very cool D H! Thanks for the link. :smile:
 
  • #10
That's the best effort I've seen so far. Still so far, I'm not aware of any attempt that gets a human powerd helicopter out of ground effect mode for the rotor(s).
 
  • #11
Love the way he was leaning over - instinctively trying to prevent it drifting sideways.
 

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