Gamera's May 12, 2011 Flight

[tomintroy]

FUGLY!

[ROBwithaB]

I think that this entire story could have been told perfectly adequately in about 90 seconds.

Please note that Windows MovieMaker ships for free with your PC. Check it out. It's pretty easy to use. You just split the clip and throw away the eight minutes of footage of people standing around.......

[jaderaptor]

nerds

[Mistercharming]

AWESOME! A woman with a a great body at the University of Maryland! Wait a Minute... You see that all the time.. What are we celebrating about again?

[shnabz]

just need gears now

[MrClean417]

oh right, its a record because the engine was female? It's impressive, like the last one I saw that was up for 40 seconds? It's still just a ground effect flight not true flight BUT it's an impressive piece of machinery. Lot better then our concrete canoe races but I bet a lot more expensive too. Probably less beer as well. Good job and all.

[markusariliu]

wikipedia. org/wiki/Human-powered_helicop­ter

[markusariliu]

a record? this exact same design was up for about 20 or so seconds in 2007 the vid is on youtube.

[krstone0]

Not to take away from what happened but, she should be a video game model. Her body is amazing!

[KENKENNIFF]

The key is light strong material, these are coming.

[edwardreid]

Very good effort! a bit fragile,though..... Seems it has no real direction controls. ultralight construction does have good uses in the future and this item proves it. I did notice a bit of coning of the roters which might be solved with a carefully redesigned main roter spar,however it did lift off! Now, the ground effect is more like a hovercraft which shows how difficult it is to build and fly one of these. If I had the funds,I would try building one Myself....

[wilsocn]

Seems practical...

[repawnd]

These guys are a bit late, this was already done in 1994 by YURI-I, it flew for 19.46 seconds.

[SavannahNight]

my God that was stupid ...

[alexoc949]

these are college grads? there has to be something more productive they can be doing

[Stormgebieder]

I do not understand, it's an ancient dream, hundreds years long sought for but never succeeded, a human powered flying device. And it happens the solution of this ancient dream is just to be found in the comments of all the geniuses here! Wunderbar!

[DrOhReally]

two counter rotating three blade rotors would have done it with a small trade off between stability and effort required to get it airborne

[eddyTrue]

wrong construction

[TURBINEator]

LOL.. I love the tenacity of students, good effort. But you have to understand that even your best calculations and techniques only BARELY made it off the ground IF at all..

It is still at best a classroom experiment with no practical application and WAY off the Sikorsky prize. Too many losses via the drive to the blades to generate enough lift using an over complicated design. Yes I do have an Engineering degree and NO i wouldn't waste my time.

[tek5828]

@TURBINEator i like your comment

[imagine45]

Nice work--

My idea may be easy and simple ,but may work better

Please take a look at---

Human powered ornithoper / Helicopter concept

[SteezyOtis]

a male pilot would be able to get that to actually "lift" off into the air. The male human body is more powerful than a womans. FACT. what are you trying to prove having a woman do this?

[pragzter]

@SteezyOtis lighter weight. women have lower bone-density than men. the power-to-weight ratio is greater therefore.

[budulududu1]

@SteezyOtis fact men are heavier than women

[falcosimon]

let's get Cancellara on this thing, and shoot it through the roof!

[Dasdfjkl]

It didn't look like it got off the ground. It sort of skidded.

[ahmi94]

First of all, congratulations for this achievement !

but sorry, this so attractive pilot is not the first female who left the ground by her own force ! it is Ward Griffiths, an American woman with no special training, who became the first female HPH pilot with her August 1994 flight in YURI I On her second attempt, she hovered the YURI I for 8.6s, observed by delegates at a Human Powered Flight symposium. you can see the video at youtube.com/watch?v=8Xam0gP1R9­4&playnext=1&list=PL0E6E96167A­DA8CB0

[aftabsarwar1]

good exercise machine ;-).

[gustarrezende]

First, I wish you success on this project.

Second, I think the camera had to located on the ground level, so we can watch the fly better.

[rmiles1970]

I fail to see what the big deal is. Barney Rubble did this in 1960, and he flew all over Bedrock - with Fred as a passenger!

[lukthere2]

good job!!

[ting280]

if it was scaled down with bike motors and a way to steer it it could replace cars. hell i'd buy one

[Cenourin]

Yeah yeah... and the Gamera flights exactly when the camera zooms out

[bliglum]

Very impressive!! These guys have managed to make 1/4 hp deliver 200+lbs of thrust!!! Quite a feat!

[AnotherNetTraveller]

Congrats!! It is amazing.

Thank god for the ground effect. ;-)

Hope to see more flights in the future.

[AnotherNetTraveller]

@AnotherNetTraveller

... what was the density altitude?

[virtel2]

Congrats!

[kapitalisttas]

first record belongs to popular mechanic February 1980 pedal plain

[DJLunnie]

wow? 

[PostToastie]

Have you tried putting the pedals on the hand-crank next to each other like on the freedom ryder and every other hand-crank bike I have ever seen? I believe that would reduce the amount of wobble, which is, of course, the reason that they do it that way.

[ricardobeat]

@PostToastie have you ever tried to pedal with your feet and move your hands together in a circle at the same time? It's almost impossible, worse than turning one hand in each direction.

[PostToastie]

@ricardobeat I figured that would be the problem. Have you tried having the foot pedals symmetrical also but with the opposite power stroke? Then you could do longer foot pedal crank-arms to get a bigger stroke, that combined with a higher gear might make it easier.

[rhynobots]

Actual flight starts at 3:00

[TheOctocornNetwork]

I'm no expert, but it does seem like the pedals are geared wrong. Wouldn't it be possible to deliver more power if you didn't have to pedal so fast? Again, I know nothing about it, so it's probably an ignorant question. If so, please enlighten me. :)

[GunterYang]

WOW! People commenting here are truly amazingly idiotic. Go and build your own human-powered helicopter and post a video before you talk all that smack about this effort. No, wait... First go to college, study engineering, get a degree, go to grad school, understand advanced concepts of physics, THEN build your own and tell us all how awesome you are. Dumbasses...

[mchentrp]

I don't know why these guys are claiming all these records. They are wrong! On December 10, 1989, the National Aeronautic Association awarded a Certificate of Record for the US National Record, Special Category, to the Student Chapter of the American Helicopter Society, California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, California, for the first hover of a human powered helicpoter, "Da Vinci III". The HPH hovered for a total of 6.8 seconds. The students at UMD are well aware of this.

[encarta007]

@mchentrp

Oh, I don't know, maybe the UMD students are making a big deal out of this, because 10.77 seconds is greater than 6.8 seconds?

[GruntyStudios]

The video starts at 2:50.

[masterrobber]

first 20 seconds by far the best part of this video.

[magicrystalina]

you should've edited out the unimportant bits. honestly, 9 minutes for a video?

[Yonkage]

This is so sad. Giant monstrosity of a machine and it's barely works at all, probably because the only woman they could find light enough to fit in there has a rather pitiful level of stamina.

[gryphon50c]

@Yonkage  Pitiful level of stamina? I'm sure she could run circles around you.

[Yonkage]

@gryphon50c

I'm a man; it would be an unfair comparison.

[DamasterChang89]

@Yonkage Pretty sure she's a competitive cyclist which requires an incredible level of stamina. For all we know, YOU could look like a fat, pimply Cartman during the world of warcraft episode.

[Yonkage]

@DamasterChang89

I don't watch South Park or play WoW like most fat, pimply americans. Also, for all you know *I* am a competitive cyclist.

In either case, there's no denying the fact she was pedling for only a few seconds. Even at 100%, that's not particularly good.

[DamasterChang89]

@Yonkage Yea, I'm going to go ahead and call your bluff on the cyclist thing right now.

You also fail to see she only stopped peddling because the craft was drifting towards a wall.

[tairod]

This was actually Obama's first choice of a stealth chopper to send in to get bin Laden.

[zev007]

did it even get off the ground? all i saw was wobbling. fail.

[SnovvVilliers]

Wow you got a whole 2 inches off the ground!

...

Next...

[threeteaspoons]

all of that to get two inches off the ground?

[antdude]

So when does it finally start flying? :D

[xriter]

Well cant help wondering if they had used a man with a better power to weignt ratio,They may have done better.....but i guess the girls must be given a chance ...eh?

[captainpiccard]

@xriter im pretty sure a buffed up lady has a better power to weight ratio than a buffed up man, because the non-power generating features in a man (bones, organs) would be larger/heavier...

[Zencyde]

@xriter Have you seen the legs women have? A man wouldn't be able to give a better power to weight ratio. Unless he was incredibly disproportioned, us guys have more upper body strength by nature.

[xFlyswatterx]

Well that was a pointless waste of time.

[vassilisthebest]

Jugding by the way they're celebrating, they must have achieved something important. Although I can't understand what exactly.

[thewakz]

2:57 This is when it starts. Maybe this team should have gave the footage to the arts department for editing before they uploaded.

[junkbox0]

why is the video 10 minutes long? it should be 3 seconds long.

[LittleStreets]

It looks like Mr. Garrison's IT, but this is IT 2.0

[ECsponger2]

Leonardo DaVinci would be proud

[zpwnsyew]

Man with beard in background at 0:38 kinda scares the piss out of me... But judging by said beard, I'm guessing Phd in Psych, or Astrophysics. Possibly Philosophy.

[sgcVlad]

@zpwnsyew hahaahahah try nothing..........

[szf6111]

Well ... flying at a breathtaking altitude of 5 inches for 4 seconds ... thats not nothing.

Jeeez ...  what a waste of time, effort, talent, money.

This really sucks.

[xieper]

@szf6111 you obviously have little understanding of the physics involved.

[bastian74]

Where's the cyclic?

[Clapting]

What about a gear?

[onewingman]

Hate to SPOIL the PARTY, but perhaps, you ALL should refer to Jane's Book of AVIATION HISTORY...You will see a picture of my MOTHER peddle powering a heavier than air machine, in the helio-config, back in the 30's. At the time I believe she was married to Bela DeTuscan, her name, Joanna DeTuscan, Captain, American Women's Olympic Fencing Team, 1936. Later, World's Women's Professional Fencing Champion and FIRST person to power a heavier than air machine. Don't believe me...GOOGLE her!

[MrYamadog27]

@dmfreeman16

I'm not sure what video you were watching, but the one I saw didn't contain anything flying. It looked a lot more like wasted money trying to what? Save a planet that isn't in danger. We've got plenty of gas, just use that on a REAL helicopter and save us all some time.

[chilich33z]

Lamest first flight ever... *yawn*

[mgregggphone]

@chilich33z very nice contribution. I don't know what we would have done had you not been able to express yourself in such a eloquent form.

[chilich33z]

@mgregggphone

Maybe you could have spent your time constructively? That video and project sucked mi amigo...

[kapitalisttas]

she fly' without that thing with own wings

[ganaschico]

epic bearded man

[laursenskate3]

If that's considered flight then call me super man cause I can fly just by jumping.... super lame but she does have a great body :)

[johnnyinsnj]

Losing way too much sweat in the power transfer..looked like 9:1. You have the pedals, just throw in some 10 speed sprocket and derailleur kit. You'll probably have to fabricate a 20-30 speed kit with two sets of sprockets to hit the 10 feet 60 second marker.

[goedjn]

@johnnyinsnj Yeah, I was thinking that the pedal-stroke looked too fast and choppy for good power delivery, but it's not that far off from sprinting, so maybe they're right about the ratios. I was also surprised because it looks like the profile of the blades is uniform along the lifting surface. I'd have thought you'd want to have variable pitch, like a propeller. @heroineworshipper: according to the press release about 100# each, for pilot and craft.

[antonio85061]

A very big equipment was used for little efficiency. It was obtained a mark of 20 centimeters, during 20 seconds in the last attempt, I think this work still and very archaic. And necessary to improve producing smaller equipment and systems of multiplication of force to demand less human force and larger potency in the helixes a lot. Continue researching and studying, you are capable but... if Santos Dumont resurrected he would do very better.

[KeeperOfSolitude]

Idea mia o a esa bicicleta le hiceron falta unos cuantos cambios?

me refiero a cambios de velocidades para el motor, asi como iba no llegaba a ninguna parte

[AlceuBap]

@thibaione82 Menos peso sim, mas menos sustentação e equilíbrio. Note que existem muitos "quadrirotor" R/C por aí, mas nenhum "trirotor". Imagino que essa galera tenha estudado bastante antes de decidir a configuração.

[AlceuBap]

Looks like many people here know how to do better than these guys from their desktops. I wonder why they didn't...

[TheInvd]

great success in my opinion - keep up the work!

[MrYamadog27]

Who else isn't impressed? :|

[rentatrip1]

this is BOGUS BS ...NO FLIGHT -

not a actual flight simply a "lift off" of 8 inches - I can jump higher than that -

Better off to have spent the money on a hang glider and take a real flight off an actual hill - this is another failure by public eduaction and folly which runs rmpant throughout the brainwashed society at large - a collosal Rip Off i

[spellord]

i could use it to cut my grass...

dava pra cortar grama...

[khsfksjdkfjlsj]

Superlame. 3 cm above the ground for 2 secs hardly counts as a "flight".

[rhov233]

Just look straaight into the Gamera blease.

[opaopa1203]

This is incredible!

Congratulations to all involved!

[DDoiS]

@BudokanHacks foda-se

[fxcontrol]

Vou montar algo tipo isso para ir à qualquer lugar. Só vou precisar de uns 50 metros pra estacionar.

[robbsx]

vou querer comprar uma parada dessa pra deixar no meu quintal!

[Rodrigames1]

/watch?v=J1t7_jF9xzQ

[saullo83]

Nossa que simples e usal né !?

That so simple and usual ?

[Tetsuoha]

Is this in a university? LOL

[EhVidaBoa]

ASSISTAM MEU VIDEO E DIGAM SE GOSTARAM .

youtube.com/watch?v=jIbK9Cv8Rh­M&feature=ll_lolz&playnext=1&l­ist=LLKkCgqeKkO08

[CaptainUkraine]

billions are waisting for crap like this.

[YouTubationBrazil]

Bullying Funny! They scream "Go chubby" Go chubby! Students from Brazil!

/watch?v=sww3870fcgk

[sandr230188]

what Santa is doing here?

[BCEMCOCATb]

This is amazing, but from what I've seen Yuri-I had a more successful result. It was powered only by legs and a cyclist didn't have to put so much effort to lift the craft. The flight also wasn't limited by the stamina, which was the case here.

[DamasterChang89]

@BCEMCOCATb True, the Yuri-I had a more successful result than we did. But like the Yuri, our flight also was not limited to stamina, but the size of the room. We didn't want the tragedy that befell the Yuri on it's final flight to happen to our craft as well.

[99999999448]

It looks to me like this device would benefit from a different pilot position, about 20 degrees canted forward would allow the pilot to use her weight to counter body forces and eliminate the weight of the seat. A more natural " gait approximating" timing between the pedals and the handcrank should also help increase the pilots ability to make horsepower and add duration to her efforts. It seems obvious that the human's body power and endurance is the limiting factor for altitude and duration

[clintonman]

@99999999448 are you from the future?

[locopyro13]

@99999999448 the shoes and handles she used to transfer muscle power to rotational power allow her to pull and push through out the whole cycle. The position she is in allows her greatest muscle force, that of her legs pushing out, to not be limited by the counter weight of her body. By leaning back she can push her back against the restraints and impart the most force. The position you suggest is best for cyclists since they only use their legs and can't be bound into their machine.

[RJhasFLOW]

@99999999448 pwned.

[windmillstudio]

I love you, Judy :D

[heroineworshipper]

What a strong heroine. Someone should donate a 2nd camera.

[peewack]

@heroineworshipper the pilot was Judy Wexler, her power/weight ratio has to be huge, anyway what's the weight of the aircraft?

[sergiobanguer2]

10mens/1 woman

[gilabear11]

Congratulations! I teach secondary students at a small international sch in Venezuela. We tried watching the live stream but was sketchy. Followed the tweets some, and we watched the videos this morning. Several of my students are interested in pursuing careers in the engineering fields and have been accepted into some good US universities. This has been a very inspiring project for them.

[mchenterp]

The actual prize parameters call for height of 3 meters (that's 9.84 feet) for 1 minute staying within a 10 meter square area by controlled flight. It doesn't look like this flight was good enough for the prize, and this may or may not be a record (check out the Japanese and previous DaVinci attempts) but this is definitely impressive.

[Zeno2Day]

Okay, what did the Judge come back with... regarding the video reviewed findings? Did it really fly? If so... how long? Good effort - though. ________________ (check timecode 5:05 and listen to what the Judge int the yellow vest had to say)

[sgcVlad]

@Zeno2Day We did fly. The judge just needs to review the video to get the exact time. There were 4+ cameras pointed at Gamera. So each video needs to get sinked to get the exact time of lift off.