First ever, Man powered helicopter

[seeder]

A team from Canada achieves what many in the aviation industry had deemed impossible.

"Leonardo Da Vinci's dream realised: Canadian inventors achieve world’s first man-powered helicopter flight"

It is one of Leonardo Da Vinci’s most famous inventions – that was never thought possible. But half a millennium after the Italian genius sketched the first plan for a man-powered helicopter, his dream has finally become a reality.

A team of engineers in Canada has completed the first successful flight of a helicopter using nothing but human brawn, and in doing so claimed a $250,000 prize fund.

The aircraft uses spools of string, drawn in by a pilot pumping the pedals of an otherwise fairly ordinary bicycle, to turn four massive – but very light – rotors.

The full story:

http://www.independe...ht-8706413.html

The vid:

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Edited July 14, 2013 by seeder

[Ashotep]

If everyone traveled like that we would be in much better shape physically and look at all the oil we would save.

[seeder]

If everyone traveled like that we would be in much better shape physically and look at all the oil we would save.

pain in the ass to park it up tho I expect due to its size

[Junior Chubb]

Not quite what I was expecting but awesome nonetheless.

Thanks for posting.

Edited July 15, 2013 by Junior Chubb

[ancient astronaut]

There was a feature story in Popular Mechanics awhile back about this, cool stuff. You can probably find the story on their(p.m.)website to get a better look at the design(s).

[Sundew]

Looks like great indoor fun, however outside the slightest gust of wind could possibly ruin your whole day!

[seeder]

Looks like great indoor fun, however outside the slightest gust of wind could possibly ruin your whole day!

Yeh but to be fair, they were just trying to win the money, the concept isnt really feasible as a mode of transport....not yet anyways, but who knows what the future may bring eh?

[pallidin]

Wow. Great job. And $250,000 doesn't hurt either.

It's a lot bigger than I expected, and like was already said, the rotors are so light that outdoor use is likely dangerous, given wind damage.

But yeah, like seeder said, a good start.

Edit: I don't think this could be considered "based on Da Vinci's design", as his design involves a screw rotor and this does not. An element of commonality is of being solely powered by a single human.

Still, very impressive.

Edited July 16, 2013 by pallidin