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This short documentary by Tyler Bastian and Cameron Trejo is called Everything is Incredible and well, it’s pretty freaking incredible. It’s about a man named Agustín from Honduras who can’t walk, lives in poverty yet still wants to fulfill a dream: to fly. He spends his days making a helicopter from trash. More »

This past June, a determined pilot managed to keep the human-powered Gamera II in the air for a whopping 50 seconds. Impressive, but it only hovered a little. This flight, while much shorter, nabbed a record of its own by soaring to the great height of 8 feet. More »

Further proof that every generation of kids has it better than the last, Air Hogs new Hover Assault means youngsters no longer have to choose between an RC car or an RC helicopter. Because this is both, and manages to somehow up the awesome even further with a set of remotely fired missiles. More »

A team at the University of Maryland has been taking human powered flight to new heights. Or, rather, lengths, by setting a new US record for flight duration of 49.9 seconds with its Gamera II rotorcraft. The benchmark event actually took place in June, but only received the all important plaudits from the National Aeronautic Association on August 9. Gamera II builds on its predecessor (unsurprisingly, Gamera I) by featuring improved transmission, rotor design and a redesigned cockpit. Not content with smashing the previous craft’s record of 11.4 seconds, the team plans to fly a further refined version of the copter with longer blades and other fine tuning later this month. The 49.9 second flight has also been submitted to the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale for World, rather than American-record verification. The guys at Maryland might want to keep an eye over their shoulders though, as it looks like someone else already has their eyes on that prize. Video evidence after the break.

Continue reading NAA verifies new US record for human-powered helicopter flight (video)

Filed under: Transportation

NAA verifies new US record for human-powered helicopter flight (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Aug 2012 19:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s not me, it’s you. The US Army’s dalliance with Boeing’s A160 Hummingbird drone got one step closer to Splitsville after the military branch issued a stop-work order for the project. Initially scheduled to see action in Afghanistan starting this July, the chopper-drone turned plenty of heads thanks to a DARPA-developed Argus-IS imaging system with a 1.8-gigapixel camera capable of spying on ground targets from 20,000 feet. The honeymoon period between the Army and the A160 is apparently over, however, thanks to a host of issues. These included wiring problems as well as excessive vibration that caused an A160 to crash earlier this year due to a transmission mount failure. The problems not only increased risk and caused delays, but also led program costs to helicopter out of control — a big no-no given Uncle Sam’s recent belt-tightening. In the meantime, the Army is reportedly checking out the K-MAX, though it’s important to note that this unmanned chopper specializes in cargo and doesn’t have the A160’s eyes.

US Army breaking up with A160 Hummingbird drone-copter, says it’s too high maintenance originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jun 2012 07:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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