Aerovelo was testing today, and they had advised people that they would make an attempt at the Sikorsky prize. When I arrived, the team was in between a series of preliminary flights to trim the aircraft. Here they are busy making various adjustments to the helicopter.
Trefor was the pilot and engine for the first series of flights so that Todd could conserve his energy for later that day.
Here Trefor and Todd discuss the handling of Atlas. Trefor was totally focused on “just not breaking the aircraft”.
For Trefor’s last flight, they installed the canards.
Here is a video of that flight. Trefor got well over a meter, and there was not very much lateral drift.
The flights were quite routine, with no crashes, and just a series of adjustments between each flight.
Cam’s dad flew in from Philadelphia. Todd’s mom also came down from Ottawa.
Todd in flight during a warmup.
Here he prepares for another flight.
This is Todd’s best flight of the day, where he reached an altitude of about 5 feet, a duration of more than 30 seconds, and very little lateral drift.
Unfortunately, the adjustments made after this flight did not improve things. The team was also under time pressure since they had to be off the field by 5 pm. At the end of the day, they were not able to improve on this flight, and they packed things up to try another day.
More pictures here.
