Media Advisory
| Aug. 9, 2004
REMINDER: UBC’s human-powered helicopter takes flight
Tuesday, August 10
Event: UBC human-powered helicopter makes
its first test flight
Date/Time: Tuesday, August 10, 10 a.m.
– 12 noon
Place: Thunderbird Stadium, 6288 Stadium
Rd., access off of S.W. Marine Drive or W. 16th Avenue
Visuals: media will be able to watch test
flight of helicopter; team members, including the pilot
Peter Hudson and team leader Mike Georgallis, will be available
for interviews following the test flight
NOTE: In the event of rain, test will
be held on Wed. Aug. 11, same time and place
It took six years of planning and building, but a team of
UBC engineers hopes to get a human-powered helicopter off
the ground tomorrow using some old-fashioned legwork.
Pilot Peter Hudson, an engineering alumni, has been training
on a regular bike in order to get the helicopter aloft by
sheer pedal power alone.
If the craft, dubbed the Thunderbird Project, can fly three
meters off the ground for one minute, it will be the frontrunner
in an international competition for a US$20,000 prize. It
will also set a new world record for human-powered helicopter
flight. The current record of 19.5 seconds at eight inches
off the ground is held by Nihon University in Japan.
Team leader Mike Georgallis, who has been working on the
project since its inception in 1998, says the test is literally
a fly-or-break situation for the 36-meter diameter machine
whose twin rotor wings have a span larger than a Boeing 737.
UBC is the only Canadian university attempting the challenge
set by the American Helicopter Society in 1980. To date, no
one has claimed the prize although several teams in other
countries, including the U.S., have tried.
For additional information on the Thunderbird Project, including
a list of FAQs, visit: http://batman.mech.ubc.ca/~hph/index2.html.
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