Organizers of the GoFly Prize program announced five winning teams in Phase II of the three-phase competition, which tasks entrants from around the world to design and build an ultra-compact, near-VTOL personal flying machine capable of flying 20 miles – safely carrying a single person. The personal flying device must also hold vertical or near vertical take-off and landing capabilities.
The two-year program, sponsored by Boeing and founded by Gwen Lighter, is to culminate with a Phase III final fly-off in which four prizes will be awarded, including: $250,000 for the quietest compliant device; $250,000 prize for the smallest compliant device; $100,000 Pratt & Whitney Disruptor Award; and the $1,000,000 Grand Prize.
The GoFly program initially received more than 3,500 entries from 101 countries for Phase I, which focused on technical-paper submissions and awarded $20,000 to 10 winners of this initial stage. For Phase II, 31 teams from 16 countries submitted entries for review by a panel of experts. These teams were required to submit visual and written documentation detailing their personal flyer prototypes, with physical prototypes being introduced for the first time.
In Phase II, GoFly explains the teams had the opportunity to learn from and work with some of the world’s leading experts in aircraft design, systems engineering, fabrication and testing, and finance and funding. The five winning teams of Phase II, each receiving a $50,000 prize, includes: Team Aeroxo for its ERA Aviabike device; Team Dragonair Aviation for its Airboard 2.0 device; Team Silverwing Personal Flight for its S1 device; Team Texas A&M Harmony for its Aria device; and Team Trek Aerospace for its FlyKart2 device.
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