World's First Piloted Solar Powered Helicopter Takes Flight

A group of students from the University of Maryland have made aviation history when their solar powered helicopter — the Solar Gamera — took to the air for the first ever flight of a piloted solar-powered helicopter.

The Solar Gamera is the solar powered version of the Gamera, a human-powered helicopter which was an entry for the still unclaimed $250,000 (Rs. 1.66 crore) Sikorsky Prize - a competition to design a human-powered helicopter.

The Solar Gamera achieved two successful flights, flying for 9 seconds and gaining more than a foot of height.