First (?) human powered helicopter flight

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the achievements and claims related to human-powered helicopter flights, specifically addressing the recent flight by a team and its implications in the context of previous attempts. Participants explore the historical context, media representations, and technical aspects of these flights.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express that the recent flight is being inaccurately labeled as the first human-powered helicopter flight, citing previous attempts such as Gamera, Da Vinci III, and Yuri-I.
  • One participant highlights that Gamera achieved unofficial lift-off and hover time in 2011, while Da Vinci III and Yuri-I had notable flights in 1989 and 1994, respectively.
  • Another participant questions the media's portrayal of the recent flight as unprecedented, noting that the team claims to acknowledge prior efforts and that their flight may be the first "official" record due to certification issues.
  • There is mention of a team member's comment clarifying that they do not consider themselves the first, but rather part of a lineage of human-powered helicopter attempts.
  • Some participants express interest in the technical aspects of the recent flight and suggest potential optimizations for future attempts.
  • One participant notes that no attempts have successfully taken a human-powered helicopter out of ground effect mode for the rotor(s).

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally disagree on the characterization of the recent flight as the first human-powered helicopter flight. Multiple competing views exist regarding the historical context and media representation of these achievements.

Contextual Notes

Participants reference various historical flights and their specifications, indicating a lack of consensus on what constitutes an "official" flight and the criteria for certification. There are also mentions of media inaccuracies and the potential for future improvements in design and performance.

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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