World Human Powered

Aircraft Speed Record

Current record: 27.5 mph
Record holder: Holger Rochelt
Nationality: German

Record set: 1985

The Challenge

‘This was going to test me more than any

other physical challenge I had ever faced.’

THINK everyone knows the story of Daedalus and Icarus. But it

doesn’t matter if you don’t, because we will be coming back to

those two. Suffice to say that when I came across a picture of

these ancient Greek characters wearing their home-made wings on their

arms, it reminded me of those blokes you used to see on telly, jumping off

the end of the pier at Bognor hoping to fly. They all tended to fly like

I

bricks, and that made me think that there surely must be a better way for a

man to fly under his own steam. I then found out that there was, and if a

man could fly using muscle power, then flying faster than anyone else was

a challenge I fancied having a go at.

Getting off the ground under your own muscle power simply can’t be

done with your arms. You need to generate so much power that you have

to use the biggest muscle groups, and that means bringing your legs into

the game. You can’t flap your legs like a bird’s wings, of course – leg power

means pedal power, but just how much power would we need to get me off

the ground and what sort of flying machine would I have to use?

27.5 ^MPH   World speed record 1985 Musculair II (44.3 ^km/h) ►

25 ^MPH 1984 (November) Bionic Bat   (40.23 ^km/h) ►

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1

MPH

18 ^MPH 1961 SUMPAC (29 ^km/h) ►

20 ^MPH 1972 Jupiter (32.19 ^km/h) ►

22 ^MPH 1984  (August) Bionic Bat (35.41 ^km/h) ►

THE CHALLENGE   77