News: NASA Picks Winners in $250K (Flying Car) Contest

NASA has awarded $250,000 in prizes to teams that could build and fly their small-seat plane. These small planes could one day be a prototype for the so-called air cars. The contest was ran by the Cafe Foundation, a non-profit group of flight test engineers. This NASA-sponsored contest of Personal Aircraft Vehicles (PAVs) was held on Saturday at the Charles Schultz Sonoma County Airport (STS) in California.

Four teams flying small two-seater planes competed against each other in six categories: speed, short takeoff, efficiency, handling, noise and overall best.

The grand prize of $100,000 went to the team flying a slightly modified short-wing 682 pound (empty weight) Pipistrel Virus (shown above). The plane was flown by an Australian pilot Michael Coates who works for Pipistrel. Coates also won $25,000 for the best short-take off (STOL) and another $25,000 for the efficiency challenge. Coates called the plane the “Prius of airplanes” not because it's a hybrid but because it can go as fast as 170 mph and get 50 miles a gallon. A highly modified kit plane, a Vans RV-4, won $25,000 in the speed challenge and another $50,000 for emitting the least amount of noise on its flight. Finally, the team flying a Cessna 172 won $25,000 for handling.

Source Non-Mobile: http://news.com.com/...
Cafe Foundation Non-Mobile: http://cafefoundation.org/

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Tags: Airplanes, Flying, Products, Travel
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