Dragonair's AirBoard 2.0 Personal Flying Device Among 5 Finalists Worldwide

GoFly, an international human flight competition, has named TechFarms startup Dragonair Aviation as a finalist for its $1 million grand prize.

GoFly, sponsored by Boeing, challenges inventors worldwide to make human flight a reality by building the world's first personal flying device. More than 800 teams entered, and GoFly today named Dragonair Aviation as one of five finalists. The company, founded by entrepreneur-inventors Mariah Cain, Jeff Elkins and Ray Brandes, earned the spot with its AirBoard 2.0, a battery-powered, vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.

Dragonair was formed in December 2018, but the team has been working on the AirBoard at TechFarms for about three years. Elkins, lead engineer, began working on the craft in 2015. Cain soon joined on as co-designer and pilot. Brandes, also an engineer and machinist, is the team's design specialist.

The teams will have about 10 months to finalize their designs, with the assistance of GoFly mentors — leading experts in aircraft designer, engineering, fabrication, testing and finance — before their inventions take to the sky for the Final Fly-Off in February 2020. At the internationally televised event, each team will fly its device through an obstacle course.

"It's the event that's gonna ignite the future of transportation," said Cain, the only female team captain among the finalists. "It's something that's showing off, getting everyone excited about what the future is turning toward — a festival of innovation." At stake is a $1 million grand prize, along with smaller awards for quietest craft, smallest craft, and innovation.

"We are so grateful to have this opportunity," Cain said. "The fact that we get to do this and be here and be one of the few people in the world that get to be a part of this ... we're making history."

The other four finalists are Team Aeroxo (Russia and Latvia), Team Silverwing Personal Flight (Netherlands), Team Texas A&M Harmony (US), and Team Trek Aerospace (US). Each team will take home a $50,000 prize. See: GoFLyPrize.com.

Located in Panama City Beach, FL, TechFarms is a technology incubator that provides office space, prototyping equipment, mentoring, access to capital, and other amenities to assist entrepreneurs.

(Source: TechFarms news release. Image from TechFarms blog)

FMI: TechFarms.com