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Back when I drove a forklift for a living, we had driving contests, like picking up and transporting an egg without breaking it. Helicopter pilots, however, are a more daring breed, as you can see from this video. Among other tricks, the pilot shaved a man on the ground. No — not with the blades of his aircraft. Presumably he’s still working on that stunt. Rather, the pilot had a safety razor attached to a landing strut and maneuvered the chopper so that he shaved a volunteer’s face without drawing blood.
via Geekosystem
Students at the University of Maryland build a functional helicopter that is powered only by human exertion:
The X-shaped helicopter, called Gamera, has 42-foot diameter rotors at each end of 60-foot long crossbars. A pilot’s module is suspended from the middle, where Wexler, a biology student, sat and pedaled with feet and hands. Pilot included, the contraption weighs just over 200 pounds.
Judy Wexler pedaled hard enough to lift the craft (just barely) off the ground for four seconds. Skip ahead to three minutes into the video to see the flight.
A deer fell through the ice covering a frozen lake. A helicopter pilot came in close to observe and reasoned that he could use the force generated by his blades to blow the deer onto the ice and to the shore. And he was right!
via reddit
While spending only $5 for the necessary modifications, Douglas Desrochers gave a rocket helicopter blades which it could use to make a smooth descent:
The HeliRocket is propelled by a standard model-rocket engine, but instead of the engine’s ejection charge deploying a parachute, it releases the rocket’s 3 tail fins. The fins then swing up into a helicopter blade configuration, which slows the rocket’s descent by converting much of its kinetic energy into drag and angular momentum (spin).
Link via CrunchGear
Sikorsky Aircraft’s prototype X2 helicopter became the world’s fastest helicopter when it reached a speed of 225 knots — 9 more than the previous record set in the 1980s by a Westland Lynx. From the company’s press release:
The X2 Technology demonstrator combines an integrated suite of technologies intended to advance the state-of-the-art, counter-rotating coaxial rotor helicopter. It is designed to demonstrate that a helicopter can cruise comfortably at 250 knots while retaining such desirable attributes as excellent low-speed handling, efficient hovering, and a seamless and simple transition to high speed.
Press Release via DVICE | Photo: Sikorsky | Previously: Full-Sized Electric Helicopter
Pictured above is an artist’s conception of Sikorsky’s new project. The Firefly, if successful, will be a full-sized helicopter that is powered entirely by electricity:
The Firefly is built around the existing S-300C helicopter, a popular two-seat trainer design that was originally built by Hughes Aircraft in the 1950s. The existing 190-horsepower, four-cylinder gasoline engine has been replaced with a 200-horsepower electric motor. Powered by lithium ion batteries, the Firefly will feature new cockpit displays, as well.
Link via DVICE | Image: Sikorsky
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NASA recently held a design competition for engineering students. The objective was to design a tiltrotor helicopter that could take off from the water. Such an aircraft, NASA hoped, could be used in future maritime rescue operations. The winning design, pictured above, was submitted by students at Virginia Tech:
The winning design, dubbed the Rescue Amphibious Firefighting Tiltrotor (RAFT), was developed by 10 engineering students at Virginia Tech. It features two flying-boat style hulls joined by a central wing to form a catamaran for landings on water even in quite rough seas (up to sea state four). Projecting wings on either side carry swivelling nacelles like those of today’s V-22, but more powerful and featuring larger propellor/rotor blades.
According to the designers’ calculations the RAFT would be able to cruise at 300 knots and offer range of 800 nautical miles on a fill of just over 4½ tonnes of fuel. It could carry up to 50 passengers or approximately 5½ tonnes of water for firefighting purposes, which it could easily scoop up by making a brief touchdown on a handy body of water. The powerful catamaran flying-boat/copter would weigh in at a hefty 28+ tonnes all up.
Link via DVICE | Photo: Register
This video, going around the Internet lately, was allegedly shot with the shutter speed synchronized to the helicopter’s blade speed. I thought that shutter speed is a function of still shot cameras, so maybe it’s really synchronized to the frame rate. Photographers, please educate us.
via Urlesque
Its hard to believe these little things can even fly. They are about as small as a quarter and are simply cool.
Ilan Kroo and his colleagues at Stanford hope to use them for Mars exploration or atmospheric research one day!
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by slowboy.
I can immediately think of several ways that I could use this toy, none of which are legal.
Via Geekologie
