Fri, May 06, 2011
Engineering Students In The Hunt For The Sikorsky Prize
In a step toward winning the Sikorsky Prize, a team of A. James
Clark School of Engineering students will attempt for the first
time to test-fly their human-powered helicopter, called Gamera.
Gamera has a rotor at each of the four ends of its X-shaped frame,
with the pilot's module suspended at the middle. Each
crossbar of the frame is 60 feet long, and each rotor is 42 feet in
diameter. Through the use of balsa, foam, mylar, carbon fiber and
other lightweight materials, the entire vehicle weighs only 210
pounds, including the student pilot. All power comes from a
combination of hand and foot pedaling. If Gamera makes it off
the ground, the team has the potential to capture a world record
for human-powered helicopter flight with a female pilot on
board.
The team is made up of more than 50 graduate and undergraduate
students led by faculty advisors V.T. Nagaraj, Inderjit Chopra and
Darryll Pines (dean of the Clark School). The pilot for the tests
is University of Maryland life sciences graduate student Judy
Wexler. The Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft Center in the Clark School is
one of the nation's top rotorcraft research institutions.
The vehicle will be tested between 0900 and 1200 EDT on
Wednesday, May 11, at the Comcast Center Auxiliary Gym, University
of Maryland in College Park.
The team has been working for two years to compete for the
Sikorsky Prize, run by the American Helicopter Society (AHS). The
Clark School team is the only team currently sanctioned by the AHS
for making an official attempt. No team has succeeded since
the prize was first offered in 1980.
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