Magnificent men race their pedal flying machines across Channel
IMAGINE yourself several metres up in the air, sitting in a machine made of plastic and carbon fibre weighing no more than 40kg – and all the time pedalling as if your life depended on it.
Well, that’s precisely what a small band of daring men and women are preparing to do when they attempt to fly across the Channel powered simply by their own efforts.
More than 40 years after the first and only crossing of that 22-mile (35.4km) stretch of water in a human-powered aircraft, known as an HPA, teams of pilots and skilled engineers are readying themselves to repeat the feat.
Enthusiasts like to point out that such is the difficulty of what the teams will attempt to achieve – combining cutting-edge engineering with the supreme athletic ability needed to pedal the aircraft into the air and keep it up there – that more people have flown into space than have flown an HPA. The only successful attempt so far to fly an HPA from the south coast of England to France took place in 1979, when Californian fitness fanatic Bryan Allen completed the journey in two hours and 49 minutes in his 31kg Gossamer Albatross.
“Crossing the Channel in a humanpowered aircraft has been done once before – barely.
“It was one of the most amazing athletic achievements of our time,” said Alex Proudfoot, an HPA designer and one of the race organisers. “To think that several international teams are going to attempt the same feat, on the same day, in a race to see who is the fastest, seems almost a bit bonkers. It will be a huge technical and logistical challenge, but most of all a supreme test of athletic and piloting skill.”
The attempt to once again cross the Channel by human propulsion will take place in June next year, with take-offs from Folkestone staggered to avoid the danger of mid-air collisions.
The Great Human-powered Aircraft Race will be the first HPA time trial in history, with multiple teams in the air simultaneously. Lined up to take part so far are Wiltshire-based Team Aerocycle and a team from Bordeaux University, with others expected to join over the coming weeks. Mike Truelove, a member of the Human-powered Flight Club, who has previously won the Icarus Cup, an annual HPA competition, will compete for Team Aerocycle.
The fastest to complete the crossing will receive a £50,000 prize, with £10,000 going to the second fastest and a prize of £5,000 for the fastest female pilot.
The race will take place a few months after the 60th anniversary of the first flight of an HPA by Derek Piggott, who covered 64m (210ft), climbing to a height of 1.8m (6ft), in Southampton University’s man-powered aircraft.
The aircraft taking part will be constructed out of toughened carbon and Kevlar fibre, and lightweight foam, with their wings wrapped in rigid Mylar polythene plastic sheeting to make them as light as possible.
An HPA with a wingspan of 30m weighs as little as 40kg (6.3lb) less than the pilots themselves. Every gram saved reduces the amount of pedal power that the recumbent pilot needs.
“Flying a human-powered aircraft takes between 300W and 400W of power,” said designer and engineer Fred To, one of the race organisers.
“To keep this up over the several hours crossing will require levels of stamina close to what is needed in the Tour de France.”