We would like to congratulate Le Projet Pégase (Pegasus) on the first flight of their human-powered aircraft on November 28th, 2012. Footage of their construction and flight has just been released on CBC Radio-Canada, and is available (in French) here. The project is featured 30 minutes in.
Le Projet Pégase was started at the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec in 2011, with preliminary design beginning in October. Their timeline was actually very ambitious, and the fact that they flew just over a year after initiating the project from scratch is incredible! The team is comprised of 12 Mechanical Engineering students, all of whom share both administrative and technical roles.
The aircraft itself is propeller-driven fixed-wing, with a span of 27m and a weight of 40Kg. The primary structure is carbon fiber composite, with Kevlar composite, balsa wood, polystyrene foam, and mylar for the secondary structure and aerodynamic surfaces.
Rendering of the 3D CAD model of the Pegase Human-Powered Aircraft
We”ve been very fortunate to have the opportunity to offer analysis and construction advice to the team throughout the process, and meet them on several occasions. In January a few members of their team visited us at the Soccer Centre as we were working on the Atlas structure. It”s always great fun to share experiences and stories with others who have built human-powered aircraft!
Congratulations again to Le Projet Pégase and we hope your team members go on to further great endeavours!