Like something out of a Leonardo Da Vinci sketch, a Youtube video captures a group of Canadian engineers who built and successfully flew the world’s first human-powered helicopter.
The helicopter won the team a handsome prize of $250,000 as part of the Igor Sikorsky Human-Powered Helicopter Award. The team of engineers from the University of Toronto was the first to succeed in the challenge since its inception 33 years ago.
In the video below (posted to youtube online), the team called Aero Velo can be seen assembling and then successfully flying the human-powered helicopter inside of a large indoor arena.
Watch the human-powered helicopter flight below:
According to the rules of the challenge, the team was required to create a flying machine that could fly height of three meters (just over 9 feet), and remain airborne for 60 seconds. The machine had to stay within a 10m by 10m radius and could only be powered by human force.
Using nothing more than a single person pedaling a bicycle, the Canadian team made the historic flight on June 13. The prize, issued by The American Helicopter Society, was awarded just last week after a month-long technical review of their machine and flight was completed.