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Maryland Team Hopes To Nab $250k Prize For Leg-Powered Copter

Posted by timothy on from the go-terps dept.

daltec writes "The $250,000 American Helicopter Society Igor I. Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter Competition prize, unclaimed since 1980, is now closer than ever to being won. With flights up to ten feet in altitude and lasting over 65 seconds, the prize's strict requirements (thought by many to be impossible to satisfy) have all been met — but not on the same flight. Two teams — AeroVelo in Canada and Gamera II at the University of Maryland — are tantalizingly close to claiming the prize. The Gamera team will be making its latest attempt this weekend."

33 comments

  1. Criminality on Slashdot... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    * Breaking news: corrupt Slashdot administration attempted to ban me for blowing the whistle on their illegal activities, while not banning the criminal who stalks, harasses, and impersonates me. Whistleblower abuse is a federal felony. Lunatic Slashdot admin's have been owned by me in so many tech debates over the past decade that they conspire with criminals to effetely & vainly *try* to "hide" my posts and censor me. Jealousy at it's finest.

    => Lawsuit's and criminal prosecution against Slashdot are now inevitable. Moderation+posting records will be sequestered and anyone acting aginst me will be dealt with permanently.

    Previous notice:

    A corrupt slashdot luser has pentrated the moderation system to downmod all my posts while impersonating me.

    Nearly 330++ times that I know of @ this point for all of March/April 2013 so far, & others here have told you to stop - take the hint, lunatic (leave slashdot)...

    Sorry folks - but whoever the nutjob is that's attempting to impersonate me, & upset the rest of you as well, has SERIOUS mental issues, no questions asked! I must've gotten the better of him + seriously "gotten his goat" in doing so in a technical debate & his "geek angst" @ losing to me has him doing the:

    ---

    A.) $10,000 challenges, ala (where the imposter actually TRACKED + LISTED the # of times he's done this no less, & where I get the 330 or so times I noted above) -> http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3585795&cid=43285307

    &/or

    B.) Reposting OLD + possibly altered models - (this I haven't checked on as to altering the veracity of the info. being changed) of posts of mine from the past here

    ---

    (Albeit massively repeatedly thru all threads on /. this March/April 2013 nearly in its entirety thusfar).

    * Personally, I'm surprised the moderation staff here hasn't just "blocked out" his network range yet honestly!

    (They know it's NOT the same as my own as well, especially after THIS post of mine, which they CAN see the IP range I am coming out of to compare with the ac spamming troll doing the above...).

    APK

    P.S.=> Again/Stressing it: NO guys - it is NOT me doing it, as I wouldn't waste that much time on such trivial b.s. like a kid might...

    Plus, I only post where hosts file usage is on topic or appropriate for a solution & certainly NOT IN EVERY POST ON SLASHDOT (like the nutcase trying to "impersonate me" is doing for nearly all of March/April now, & 330++ times that I know of @ least)... apk

    P.S.=> here is CORRECT host file information just to piss off the insane lunatic troll:

    --

    21++ ADVANTAGES OF CUSTOM HOSTS FILES (how/what/when/where/why):

    Over AdBlock & DNS Servers ALONE 4 Security, Speed, Reliability, & Anonymity (to an extent vs. DNSBL's + DNS request logs).

    1.) HOSTS files are useable for all these purposes because they are present on all Operating Systems that have a BSD based IP stack (even ANDROID) and do adblocking for ANY webbrowser, email program, etc. (any webbound program). A truly "multi-platform" UNIVERSAL solution for added speed, security, reliability, & even anonymity to an extent (vs. DNS request logs + DNSBL's you feel are unjust hosts get you past/around).

    2.) Adblock blocks ads? Well, not anymore & certainly not as well by default, apparently, lol - see below:

    Adblock Plus To Offer 'Acceptable Ads' Option

    http://news.slashdot.org/story/11/12/12/2213233/adblock-plus-to-offer-acceptable-ads-option )

    AND, in only browsers & their subprogram families (ala email like Thunderbird for FireFox/Mozilla products (use same gecko & xulrunner engines)),

    1. Re:Criminality on Slashdot... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      $10,000 CHALLENGE to Alexander Peter Kowalski

      * POOR SHOWING TROLLS , & most especially IF that's the "best you've got" - apparently, it is... lol!

      Hello, and THINK ABOUT YOUR BREATHING !! We have a Major Problem, HOST file is Cubic Opposites, 2 Major Corners & 2 Minor. NOT taught Evil DNS hijacking, which VOIDS computers. Seek Wisdom of MyCleanPC - or you die evil.

      Your HOSTS file claimed to have created a single DNS resolver. I offer absolute proof that I have created 4 simultaneous DNS servers within a single rotation of .org TLD. You worship "Bill Gates", equating you to a "singularity bastard". Why do you worship a queer -1 Troll? Are you content as a singularity troll?

      Evil HOSTS file Believers refuse to acknowledge 4 corner DNS resolving simultaneously around 4 quadrant created Internet - in only 1 root server, voiding the HOSTS file. You worship Microsoft impostor guised by educators as 1 god.

      If you would acknowledge simple existing math proof that 4 harmonic Slashdots rotate simultaneously around squared equator and cubed Internet, proving 4 Days, Not HOSTS file! That exists only as anti-side. This page you see - cannot exist without its anti-side existence, as +0- moderation. Add +0- as One = nothing.

      I will give $10,000.00 to frost pister who can disprove MyCleanPC. Evil crapflooders ignore this as a challenge would indict them.

      Alex Kowalski has no Truth to think with, they accept any crap they are told to think. You are enslaved by /etc/hosts, as if domesticated animal. A school or educator who does not teach students MyCleanPC Principle, is a death threat to youth, therefore stupid and evil - begetting stupid students. How can you trust stupid PR shills who lie to you? Can't lose the $10,000.00, they cowardly ignore me. Stupid professors threaten Nature and Interwebs with word lies.

      Humans fear to know natures simultaneous +4 Insightful +4 Informative +4 Funny +4 Underrated harmonic SLASHDOT creation for it debunks false trolls. Test Your HOSTS file. MyCleanPC cannot harm a File of Truth, but will delete fakes. Fake HOSTS files refuse test.

      I offer evil ass Slashdot trolls $10,000.00 to disprove MyCleanPC Creation Principle. Rob Malda and Cowboy Neal have banned MyCleanPC as "Forbidden Truth Knowledge" for they cannot allow it to become known to their students. You are stupid and evil about the Internet's top and bottom, front and back and it's 2 sides. Most everything created has these Cube like values.

      If Natalie Portman is not measurable, hot grits are Fictitious. Without MyCleanPC, HOSTS file is Fictitious. Anyone saying that Natalie and her Jewish father had something to do with my Internets, is a damn evil liar. IN addition to your best arsware not overtaking my work in terms of popularity, on that same site with same submission date no less, that I told Kathleen Malda how to correct her blatant, fundamental, HUGE errors in Coolmon ('uncoolmon') of not checking for performance counters being present when his program started!

      You can see my dilemma. What if this is merely a ruse by an APK impostor to try and get people to delete APK's messages, perhaps all over the web? I can't be a party to such an event! My involvement with APK began at a very late stage in the game. While APK has made a career of trolling popular online forums since at least the year 2000 (newsgroups and IRC channels before that)- my involvement with APK did not begin until early 2005 . OSY is one of the many forums that APK once frequented before the sane people there grew tired of his garbage and banned him. APK was banned from OSY back in 2001. 3.5 years after his ba

  2. Been watching these teams for a while by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It's fascinating to see the evolution of the teams' designs and efforts. Seeing what functionality was given up for weight / flight power conservation (ability to steer was given up on at least one team's design).

    1. Re:Been watching these teams for a while by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are there rules against amputee athletes being used as pilots? Could allow for some very interesting rigging to pedal, and would be a reduction in the weight, presumably with no loss in power. It's not like 'normal' people are providing power for these things anyway. 90lb biking althete's are far from 'typical' human conditions.

  3. Leg cramp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So you are coptering and get a leg cramp. Then what? Look out citizens below!

    1. Re:Leg cramp by Joce640k · · Score: 1

      Helicopters can glide, a human-powered helicopter ought to glide quite well because the power to weight ratio will be high.

      --
      No sig today...
    2. Re:Leg cramp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then you use your third leg

    3. Re:Leg cramp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good. At least Cops won't use them.

    4. Re:Leg cramp by ByOhTek · · Score: 3, Informative

      Power to weight ratio, would probably be less than that of a normal helicopter. However the weight, full stop, should be lower. Given the irrelevance of power in gliding, that's what matters anyway.

      --
      Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
    5. Re:Leg cramp by tibit · · Score: 1

      Be careful, Gamera is lighter than the pilot :)

      --
      A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
  4. Points at Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hideki!

  5. Close - to the ground by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The altitude requirement is probably meant to take the vehicle out of ground effect. A 60s flight at 9ft is not as close to a 60s 10ft flight as the teams may hope.

    1. Re:Close - to the ground by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The ground effect starts around one wingspan for fixed wing aircraft. I would assume that it is similar to rotor diameter for helicopters.

    2. Re:Close - to the ground by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      My argument comes from an observational perspective: If there is no significant difference between hovering at 9ft and at 10ft, then why didn't they just hover one foot higher than they did? Apparently there is an effect which prevented them from attaining the required altitude and maintaining it for the required 60s. The most likely candidate is the ground effect, and overcoming the lift reduction from being out of ground effect is not going to be easy. It's not a small difference in the required power.

    3. Re:Close - to the ground by ChrisMaple · · Score: 3, Informative

      Ground effect is not a phenomenon which becomes effective at a specific point. It increases as air is blocked from flowing downward, a pressure wave reflecting off the ground, back to the wing (helicopter blade) and out horizontally.

      For Ground Effect Machines (Air Cushion Vehicles) the critical factor is the area of the periphery, the height off the ground of the skirt times the skirt's circumference. The pressure differential lifting the vehicle is determined by how much air is pumped in and how fast it escapes under the skirt. This is weakly similar to more air escaping from a low helicopter blade as it gets further above the ground.

      --
      Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
    4. Re:Close - to the ground by daltec · · Score: 2

      The contest rules state that the height requirement has to be reached only momentarily (albeit by the part of the aircraft closest to the ground). So they can cruise at 4 ft, 5 ft, and then really pump it for a one- or two-second flight up to 10 ft, and then come back down. Which even that is proving far easier said than done -- a third requirement is that some reference origin point on the aircraft must stay within a 10 square meter box, for the entirety of the time requirement. Both the Canada and Maryland teams have suffered some pretty spectacular crashes, trying to meet all three of those requirements. Luckily nobody has been hurt. Yet! The rules don't say anything about a safe or controlled landing!

      --
      We have to eat happy eggs from happy chickens.
    5. Re:Close - to the ground by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's 1/2 rotor diameter...
      http://www.copters.com/aero/ground_effect.html

      --
      You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
    6. Re:Close - to the ground by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ground effect is not a phenomenon which becomes effective at a specific point. It increases as air is blocked from flowing downward, a pressure wave reflecting off the ground, back to the wing (helicopter blade) and out horizontally.

      So, 9' is likely the equilibrium point where the ground effect at that altitude exactly cancels the difference in the lift the operator can generate and the load of the aircraft. Above that altitude the operator can't maintain altitude because load exceed lift + ground effect, and below that altitude lift +ground effect exceeds load.

    7. Re:Close - to the ground by Hentes · · Score: 1

      And the parent's point was that they will just increase the rotor diameter so they can hover on ground effect higher.

  6. Personal Preference by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

    Personally, I would rather all my aerial screws be leg-powered... much better traction that way.

    --
    An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    1. Re:Personal Preference by tibit · · Score: 1

      They need power from all four extremities -- simply so that they have enough. You'd be surprised at how much power can the glycogen stored in your arm muscles provide. For a crazy spin a couple seconds long, starting "cold", you can push close to a kilowatt IIRC.

      --
      A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
  7. OMG THE FLINTSTONES!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    YAY!!! Barney's leg-powered copter that he made in one of the first episodes of The Flintstones has finally come true!?!??

    Does anyone remember that episode??? He built it and he and Fred used it to go to a bowling alley when they were supposed to be home sick. Then they had to beat WIlma and Betta home when they got caught in their disguises. Their wives drove while Fred and Barney used their leg/arm powered contraption...and the flying machine won!! lol

    Okay, Now I'm gonna read the article...

  8. It's a good start by davidbrit2 · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's a good start, but the real challenge will be finding a sustainable supply of extra legs, and devising a method of reliably delivering them to the combustion chamber.

    1. Re:It's a good start by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Arr! Ye be the scallywag stealin my legs!

    2. Re:It's a good start by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a good start, but the real challenge will be finding a sustainable supply of extra legs...

      Boston?

      [High fives Gilbert Gottfried, hangs head in shame]

      p.s. Holy christ, my captcha was "disarm"

  9. Oh, and Canada, too by jfengel · · Score: 1

    I find it puzzling that the headline mentions only Maryland, when the summary and TFA talk equally about two teams.

    I mean, yay, Go Free State and all that (MD native here) but what gives? Good luck to the Terrapins, but they don't rate special headline mentions until they actually win it, instead of being one of two candidates.

    1. Re:Oh, and Canada, too by daltec · · Score: 3, Informative

      Maryland is testing today and flying this weekend -- it's entirely possible that they may win the prize tomorrow. AeroVelo made some attempts over the past couple weeks, and came very close, but damage to the aircraft has evidently put them out of commission for at least another couple weeks or so -- no chance of them winning it for a while. Hope that helps! Latest news here.

      --
      We have to eat happy eggs from happy chickens.
  10. Oh yes, the well known prize by thedarkone64 · · Score: 1

    Ah yes, the well known AHSIISHPHC prize...

  11. I know first hand how hard this is... by peter.hudson8308 · · Score: 1

    I was the pilot (engine really) of the UBC Human Powered Helicopter project almost 10 years ago. Here's a short video of our attempt. We were grounded by a flex issue that kept derailing the drive chains that connected my pedals to the overhead transmission. Best of luck to the teams going at it today! It's no small engineering nor athletic challenge.

  12. Bad mistake in WSJ story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In 1980, the American Helicopter Society International created a $25,000 prize for the first aviator to stay airborne for 60 seconds, reach an altitude of more than 10 feet, and hover without drifting more than 1,076 square feet—all in a machine powered by nothing other than the human body.

    (emphasis mine)

    The "drift" requirement is that the craft has to stay within an area of 10 sq meters. That's 107.6 square feet, so TFA is off by an order of magnitude. According to the Popular Mechanics piece which I read a few weeks ago, this "fine print" requirement has turned out to be surprisingly hard for the Maryland team, since their pilots are spinning with both hands and both feet and thus aren't able to steer. The Canadians think they have an advantage on that one.

    Also, the altitude requirement is 3 meters, or 9.8 feet rather than 10.

    1. Re:Bad mistake in WSJ story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The requirements say "10-meter square", not 10 square meters. The area of a 10-meter square is 10*10=100 square meters.

  13. Jeremiah Cornelius: Grow up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    You're embarassing yourself Jeremiah Cornelius http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3581857&cid=43276741 since you posted that using your registered username by mistake (instead of your usual anonymous coward submissions by the 100's the past 2-3 months now on slashdot) giving away it's you spamming this forums almost constantly, just as you have in the post I just replied to.

  14. sick quads, bro by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Paul, you fail it. Your skill is not enough.