This was the 4th takeoff and third successful landing of AeroLazarus, built by Southampton University Human Powered Aircraft.
The aircraft weighs about 37Kg (minus engine/pilot), flies at about 18 knots, and requires about 400w (0.5 HP) to fly in its current configuration. To keep weight down it has no ailerons, which combined with the low wing loading makes handling, interesting, in any crosswind or gusts above 2 to 3 Kn.
by _jame5_
11 Comments
Give it 3 months and there will be an ebike version.
Has it ever gotten out of ground effect or is this effectively a GEV?
with a little help from the domestiques
r/xbiking
What’s your ultimate objective? (Beyond seeing if it could be done!)
I would have definitely tried this in my younger, racing days. What a sensation!
Did you think about adding a housing for the pilot to reduce drag? Also 37 kg seems a bit heavy – compared to the German ones from the 80s: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musculair](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musculair) – video documentary about the projects of the engineer: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XDetaS8FBs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XDetaS8FBs)
The human powered planes in the Japanese birdman competition are even lighter – the record in 2023 over almost 70 km was done in a 23 kg plane: [https://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/780700](https://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/780700)
Just need whatever added benefits Pogaczar is taking. Trans Atlantic then.
Congrats.. Glad to see that still going!
Would there be any benefit to making it a tandem? That should give you much better W/kg once the plane is taken into account.
Eat more spinach