TORONTO-BASED TEAM WINS SIKORSKY PRIZE FOR HUMAN-POWERED HELICOPTER FLIGHT

The American Helicopter Society has officially declared AeroVelo winner of the Igor I. Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter Competition. After a thorough and rigorous independent analysis of the flight data of June 13th 2013 12:43 EDT, the AHS Human-Powered Helicopter Committee concluded that indeed Atlas’ epic flight 1) exceeded 60 seconds duration, 2) exceeded 3m in height, and 3) remained within a 10m x 10m box.

Atlas at the peak of its historic flight on June 13th, 2013. (Photo courtesy of Martin Turner – Visiblize.com) AeroVelo of Toronto, with support from the University of Toronto, flew more than 3 meters above the earth for 64 seconds. The team's bicycle-powered craft is the largest such helicopter to have flown.

The story posted on their website stated: “We’re very excited for the world to learn about this exciting milestone in aviation history. At AeroVelo we hope to inspire people to take on great challenges and accomplish the impossible. We would like the public to understand that with innovative engineering and creative design we can find sustainable and environmentally conscious solutions to many of the technological challenges facing our generation.

This incredible flight was 64.11 seconds in duration (World Record for “Duration on Hover”), reached a 3.3m peak altitude, and drifted a maximum of 9.8m. The Atlas as flown on June 13th behaved very differently from the aircraft we first flew some 9 months ago, a result of many incremental improvements and changes. In 18 months this passionate team went from preliminary design to achieving what many considered impossible, taking down one of the most daunting aviation feats of the past century.

We have made available to the public the draft Draft FAI World Record Claim we will be submitting to the FAI (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, or International Aeronautics Federation). The FAI is the international body which oversees all aviation records, and which certified the flight of the Snowbird Human-Powered Ornithopter in 2010. This document contains much of the evidence that we’ll be submitting for evaluation, as well as some other interesting data on the AHS Sikorsky Prize- winning flight.

We at AeroVelo would like to extend our heartfelt thanks and sincerest gratitude to the American Helicopter Society and to Sikorsky Aircraft for their vision in establishing and supporting this monumental challenge. By their backing, these two organizations have demonstrated a continuing commitment to innovation and to the education of the next generation of young engineers.

Video of historic AeroVelo flight at: www.aerovelo.com