Human powered - tiring just to watch...!

[Gnarly Gnu]

I like new technology and many geeky ideas are clever but to bust your guts in order to float a few inches for a few seconds doesn't inspire me much. However I'm sure some greenies will hail this as a wonderful technological advance or something, they like windmilly stuff after all (even if a lot of birds get sacrificed). Hey I would become a fan if they made these human powered helicopter devices compulsory for delegate travel to the many climate conferences.

 

University of Maryland students try for human powered flight prize.

 

 

Avgas rocks man! Made from organic materials too....

 

UPDATE - just noticed there is another forum section for 'rotary wing', not sure which is more appropriate.

 

 

[RKW]

I tend to agree, Gnarly. What's the point. They whip themselves into a lather just to get a few inches off the ground. Anyhow, I'm off to the gym. LOL.

 

 

[Louis Moore]

The point is AWESOME, and it keeps you fit, and I LOVE MY ENGINE

 

 

[sfGnome]

Wilbur & Orville didn't exactly fly too far on their first flight either, but the main point of something like this is that it is in the limited environment that we learn about efficiency. You can always add a few more cc to an engine, but if it's human powered then you need efficiency, and that can be always applied back to those more typical engines you know and love.

 

p.s. I whip myself into a lather a few days a week, but I never even get myself a few inches off the ground...

 

 

[eightyknots]

I like new technology and many geeky ideas are clever but to bust your guts in order to float a few inches for a few seconds doesn't inspire me much. However I'm sure some greenies will hail this as a wonderful technological advance or something, they like windmilly stuff after all (even if a lot of birds get sacrificed). Hey I would become a fan if they made these human powered helicopter devices compulsory for delegate travel to the many climate conferences.University of Maryland students try for human powered flight prize.

 

I'm worried about the additional CO2 that this kind of activity adds to a CO2-overloaded atmosphere. No doubt the person at the pedals will be asked to pay 'carbon tax' on the way out of the building.

 

 

[boingk]

Thats a seriously cool contraption, reminds me a lot of the multi-rotor copters in the RC world. Very cool stuff.

 

As for efficiency, they've taken the hard way - but perhaps thats the point. Decades ago, a fellow pedalled accros the English channel in a self-powered fixed-wing aeroplane. I believe the technology used at the time could be superseded by innovative design and materials commonly found today.

 

I've never seen a human-powered vertical-lift craft before.

 

- boingk

 

 

[Sapphire]

You guys have a thread on loosing weight-here is your answer. I'd be in it.