Design and innovation laboratory AeroVelo was recently declared the winner of the American Helicopter Society’s Igor I. Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter Competition for its June 13 flight, in which a human-powered craft was flown for 60 seconds, reached more than 3 meters (about 10 feet) in height and remained within a 10 meter by 10 meter box.
AeroVelo’s mid-June flight lasted 64.11 seconds, setting a world record for “Duration on Hover,” peaked at an altitude of 3.3 meters, and drifted 9.8 meters while it was in the air, according to AeroVelo’s blog. In a year and a half, the laboratory’s development and design teams were able to achieve what had been considered an impossible accomplishment by many design experts.
The competition was originally established in 1980, meaning AeroVelo conquered a 33-year-old challenge, according to Ars Technica. Their helicopter was nicknamed Atlas, weighing about 120 pounds with a wingspan of about 155 feet.
“This isn’t something that you’re going to commute to work in any time soon, but it’s an exercise in really pushing the limits on what’s physically possible, and what you can do with lightweight materials and really creative design,” lead designer Todd Reichert said.
Continued design improvement on many machines including helicopters can lead to vital breakthroughs in efficiency, sometimes breaking otherwise impossible records.