Human-powered aircraft

Often, a hybrid system is used; where during a certain amount of time pedaling, it would charge a battery,[1] which would, at the push of a button, power an electric motor that is connected to the same horizontal shaft as the propeller.

In 1904, Scientific American published an article and a photograph of a bicycle plane built by Steward Winslow of Riparia, Washington.

[7] In March 1937, a team of Enea Bossi (designer), Vittorio Bonomi (builder), and Emilio Casco (pilot) met a challenge by the Italian government for a flight of one kilometre using their Pedaliante.

[9] At the time the fully human-powered flights were deemed to be a result of the pilot's significant strength and endurance; and ultimately not attainable by a typical human.

By being catapulted to a height of 9 metres (30 ft), the aircraft met the distance requirement of 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) but was declined the prize due to the launch method.

[citation needed] A week after the cross-Channel flight of Gossamer Albatross, which used a propeller designed by the MIT team,[21] a student-led team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology achieved first flight on their Chrysalis aircraft,[22] which demonstrated full controllability and was flown by 44 different pilots,[21] including female pilots.

[24] The first human-powered passenger flight occurred on 1 October 1984 when Holger Rochelt carried his sister Katrin in Musculair 1.

[citation needed] A team from the Pennsylvania State University designed the PSU Zephyrus as part of their AERSP 404H class.

[citation needed] A team of aerospace engineering students from the University of Southampton designed and constructed the SUHPA.

The Icarus Cup is different from the Kremer Prize in that it does not aim to simply break speed and distance records, but make human powered flying into a popular sport.

Therefore, the competition includes challenges such as a slalom course, an unaided starting task and a landing accuracy test.

By gaining lift through buoyancy instead of air flowing past an airfoil, much less effort is required to power the aircraft.

[29][30][31][32] On August 2, 2010, Todd Reichert of the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies piloted a human-powered ornithopter named Snowbird.

The aircraft with 32-metre (105 ft) wingspan and mass of 42 kilograms (93 lb) was constructed from carbon fibre, balsa, and foam.