Gamera II team smashes previous best human-powered helicopter flight time

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First day of record attempts and pilot Colin Gore notches up a flight time of 35 seconds

Inside Reckord Amory, Colin Gore on an early record-breaking flight with Gamera II

Problems with drift lead to hasty repairs by the 40-strong Gamera II team

The American Helicopter Society's President dropped in to see Gamera II in action

Pilot Colin Gore warms up before another record attempt

Amateur bike racer and assistant research scientist in the University of Maryland Department of Astronomy Dennis Bodewits takes flight in Gamera II

Gamera II pilot Kyle Gluesenkamp has smashed last year's human-powered helicopter flight time of 11.4 seconds by a considerable margin, and now begins the anxious wait while the NAA validates his new record of 50 seconds

The Gamera II team and NAA judge Kris Maynard review the video footage

Gamera II awaits the next valiant attempt to break the 60 second barrier

Article Summary

For over 30 years, the US$250,000 cash prize for the American Helicopter Society's Igor I. Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter Competition prize has looked decidedly secure, but Gamera II has changed all that. Last week, Clark School of Engineering team pilots came so close to breaking one of the competition's major milestones that they could virtually smell it. Ph.D. candidate from Kyle Gluesenkamp from the School's mechanical engineering department, hand-cranking and pedaling like his life depended on it, managed to keep the huge quad-rotor craft aloft for 50 seconds, an impressive new world record that's currently awaiting validation by the National Aeronautic Association (NAA).

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