The HPA Notebook

Photo Credit: Don Monroe http://donaldmonroe.com/ On August 23, 1977, Bryan Allen flew the Gossamer Condor into HPA history at Minter Field in Shafter, California.  Built by Paul MacCready of AeroVironment, the Gossamer Condor became the first HPA to win the Kremer Prize.  Henry Kremer, a British Industrialist, offered the £ 50,000 prize to the first human powered aircraft that could fly a figure-eight course covering a total distance of one mile (1.6 kilometers).  The aircraft also had to clear a 10 foot pole at the start and end of the course.   Below is a link to the Academy Award winning short documentary on the Gossamer Condor.   Flight of the Gossamer Condor And here is a link to an NBC News broadcast on the Gossamer Condor:  NBC News: Flight of the Condor  Today, the Gossamer Condor hangs in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.   Photo Credit: Alec Proudfoot

DaSH PA at Half Moon Bay Airport Happy National Aviation Day! In recognition of the day, the HPA Notebook is introducing a new series of posts, Pilot 101.  This recurring series will examine flying challenges that pilots of HPAs often encounter.   This week's topic is pilot induced oscillations, most often referred to as PIOs.   These oscillations occur when a pilot inputs a series of overcorrections in opposite directions, each input intended to correct the previous one.  The diverging sinus-wave flight pattern that results is very common with first-time HPA pilots as most HPAs are very pitch sensitive.  Pilots riding the roller coaster of PIOs should let up on the controls and allow the HPA to level out and essentially fly itself.   Other factors that can feed into and exacerbate PIOs are lags in the control system and pitch variations due to changing pedaling cadence, which most HPAs experience to some degree. In the top video, the...

In 2012, the Royal Aeronautical Society Human Powered Aircraft Specialist group announced their intention to award the Icarus Cup to “promote human powered flight as a sport and encourage wider participation, perhaps one day appearing at the Olympics. The idea of the Icarus Cup was conceived as a way to inspire more people to design, build and fly aircraft themselves and provide an environment for them to meet, compete and share knowledge.” The inaugural Icarus Cup competition was held at Lasham Gliding Society in Alton from 13-22 July 2012, and it commemorated the 51st anniversary of human powered flight at Lasham Airfield.  5 HPAs competed and the Icarus Cup was awarded to Robin Kraike, the winning individual pilot of Airglow, an HPA designed and built by John and Mark McIntyre.  Team Airglow also won the team prize. In 2013, the Icarus Cup competition was held at Sywell Aerodrome in Sywell, Northamptonshire. David Barford won the Icarus Cup in a plane he desi...

Photo Credit: Alec Proudfoot Niall Paterson resides in Cumbria, U.K., and has been flying HPAs since 2016. He is the winner of the 2017 Icarus Cup, the 2018 Icarus Cup, and in 2018, he became the first winner of the Jacobson Figure of Eight Prize. He was also a member of the Aerocycle team which took the Team Prize at the 2017 and 2018 BHPFC Icarus Cup Competitions. Age: 42 Occupation: Commissioning Engineer Weight: 68 kg Power/weight ratio: 330 watts/68 kg HPAs flown: Aerocycle 3 # of flights: 25-30 First flight: Sywell Aerodrome, 2016 Longest duration flight: just under 3 minutes Longest distance flight: just under 1500m Most challenging flight: Distance around a Triangular Course Awards: 2018 Icarus Cup, 2018 Jacobson Figure of Eight Prize, 2017 Icarus Cup, 2017 & 2018 BHPFC Icarus Cup Competition Team Prize (Aerocycle) The HPA Notebook recently spoke with Niall, following his 2018 wins at the BHPFC Icarus Cup Competition held at Sywell Aerodrome. THN: W...