Meet the Teams Archives - Page 3 of 4 - GoFly Prize GoFly Prize

Editor’s Note: We’re excited to introduce you to the innovative, bold, and talented individuals competing in GoFly. Our teams come from all over the world, shaped by their diverse backgrounds and unique life experiences. We can’t wait to see what they’ll build, but in the meantime, get to know the people behind the devices.

Colin Hilton, the sole member of Team Teledrone from the United Kingdom, envisions a future where traveling is as simple as placing a phone call. After leaving an office job behind to execute his vision, Hilton is now pursuing the dream of building a personalized flying device as part of the GoFly Prize challenge.

Read on to learn more about what sparked his early interest in aviation, and what he considers to be the biggest challenge for personal flight.

Was there something that inspired your interest in aviation when you were a child?

Growing up, I remember literally looking up to the Airfix models that hung from my childhood bedroom ceiling. They intrigued me.

What’s your earliest memory associated with flight?

My earliest memory is a flight I took across the English Channel in a Bristol Freighter when I was just a child.

What were some of your favorite courses in school?

English literature, as I’ve never been able to separate the sciences from the arts.

When did you decide to pursue a career in aviation?

I worked with computers until my hatred of offices exceeded my hatred of programming. That’s when I turned to aviation.

What excites you about GoFly?

I’m motivated by the chance to steer flight in a direction that enables the individual.

What does the world look like after you create your flying device?

One day, individuals will be able to step into a device that will transport them to locations that previously they could only phone.

What is the biggest challenge standing in the way of personal flight?

People’s fear of flight is the biggest challenge when it comes to personal flight innovation. My goal is to normalize 3D transportation to the same extent that telephony has become mainstream.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received from a mentor?

Listen carefully to advice, and then ignore it.

Want to see your team featured in a Q&A as well? Fill out our questionnaire to get started!

Pete Bitar of team VertiCycle is based in Anderson, Indiana—and building a personal VTOL device has long been a dream of his. With GoFly, he is committed to making his VertiCycle soar.

Read on to learn more about Bitar’s career and the ambition that’s propelling him forward.

How did you realize you were passionate about aviation?

When I was six years old, my father returned home from business travel and brought me a toy airplane. I’ve wanted to fly ever since.

When did you decide to pursue a career in aviation?

In 2006, I decided to start my first aviation-related company and it proved to be successful, so I continued in that direction. My career hasn’t been an accident, but at the same time, I didn’t start out as anything more than a hobbyist. I learned a lot through experience and actually building stuff that flew. Making money at it has been challenging, but not impossible, and I’m at the point now where I’ve dialed in the right marketing, designs, IP and approach to be much more successful.

What excites you about GoFly?

It has been my passion to develop a personal, VTOL flying device throughout my whole life. I’ve been actively working toward that goal since I was 13 years old, when I started learning to fly an ultralight aircraft and saving up to buy components for a VTOL device. GoFly has brought my passion into the mainstream. Plus, the time and technology of today’s market are finally aligned with the potential realization of the dreams I’ve had for 40 years.

What does the world look like after you create your flying device?

There’s more to it than just my device, but devices like mine will make three-dimensional travel accessible to many. There will always be people that are afraid of flight, and won’t choose to move that way on a day-to-day basis, but I would say that up to 10 percent of the world’s population would like to be able to use a personal, eVTOL device to get from point A to point B.

With that said, making it accessible, affordable, and mass-producible is my focus. We have an opportunity here with the GoFly Prize to bring the needed attention to what is possible, and demonstrate that personal flight is approachable for ordinary people, everywhere.

What is your biggest challenge in the GoFly Prize competition currently? How do you plan to overcome it?

Time is the biggest challenge, but I plan to work really efficiently to use the time I have to achieve the results I need to achieve before the deadlines.

What’s one fun fact about you?

I’ve played piano for 48 years.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received from a mentor?

Build something and test it in reality—you’ll learn so much more than just by doing calculations, drawings, and computer simulations.

Want to see your team featured in a Q&A as well? Fill out our questionnaire to get started!

For the members of team teTra from Japan, the GoFly Prize challenge has provided an opportunity to not only become innovators in personal flight, but also connect with fellow aviation enthusiasts. The group met through the competition itself, initially communicating and collaborating via the GoFly Prize forum before coming together to develop their device.

As the team continues to build, captain Tasuku Nakai knows that it’ll be a challenge to introduce the world to an entirely new mode of transportation. But Tasuku finds confidence in inventions of the past—after all, ships, cars and even airplanes were once brand new technologies that seemed daunting.

Read on to learn more about what spurred team captain Nakai’s interest in aviation, and how teTra plans to shape the future of flight.

What is your earliest memory associated with flight?

My first memory of flight is a trip to Europe when I was nine years old. The acceleration, velocity, view and just the fact that I was actually flying excited me so much. That is when I realized that I want to fly and manipulate a device by myself.

What excites you about GoFly?

This competition requires a high integration of technologies, which is a challenge for everyone competing. But, on the other hand, the challenge is incredibly exciting because whoever wins the GoFly prize, their personal flying device will have the potential to drive worldwide change.

What does the world look like after you create your flying device?

Historically, people don’t know that they need a new technology until it’s created. People couldn’t, for example, imagine the possibility of a ship or an airplane. The winning GoFly device will give passengers the opportunity to see the world from high above the ground freely, closely, easily and affordably. It’ll change behavior with regard to transportation as well, beyond what people can imagine.

What is your biggest challenge in the GoFly Prize competition currently? How do you plan to overcome it?

Safety is our biggest challenge, but our ancestors have created new tools for generations, testing cars, ships, planes and other machines with their intelligence and passionate effort. When it comes to our GoFly device, we will test each element one by one with eager eyes until we see it in the sky.

Was there someone who inspired your interest in aviation when you were a child? Who did you look up to?

When I was a kid, I took a course at the Chiba Museum of Science and Industry where we had to craft little wooden model planes. The instructor in that course really inspired me to keep building.

What were your favorite courses in school? How did they enrich your understanding of aviation?

At the University of Tokyo, I learned a lot from my mechanical engineering courses. These classes taught me to understand machines on both a micro and a macro-level. They also helped me develop an elasticity of mind to deal with and predict problems in different aspects of the device we’re now building.

Want to see your team featured in a Q&A as well? Fill out our questionnaire to get started!

Team Aeroxo, a nine-person crew from Moscow, Russia, knows the clock is ticking when it comes to building the prototype of their GoFly Prize device. But team captain Vladimir Spinko also understands that taking extra time and care to perform necessary calculations, run tests and execute simulations will pay off in the long haul.

As the team wraps up research and development, Aeroxo is preparing to move their headquarters to Riga, Latvia, where they’ll continue building and perfecting until they bring their entry into the GoFly Prize challenge to life.

It’s an exciting time for Team Aeroxo—read on to learn more about Spinko, the leader at their helm.

How did you realize you were passionate about aviation? What’s your earliest memory associated with flight?

My earliest aviation memory is being a four-year-old kid, going on vacation with my parents and flying on a Tu-134 jet airliner. It wasn’t until high school, however, that I realized that flights are much more convenient than trains or cars.

What excites you about GoFly?

It is a great opportunity to compete with teams from all over the world.

What does the world look like after you create your flying device? How do you think you will change the world?

We envision shorter, faster, and more convenient trips that will make people happier.

What is your biggest challenge in the GoFly Prize competition currently? How do you plan to overcome it?

Timing. We have to present a flying prototype in about a year, and that’s going to be really tough. Our team is going to do our the best with numerical and theoretical calculations to minimize probable errors during our experiments and save time.

What’s one fun fact about you that your team members don’t know?

I have a fear of heights, so standing on a balcony scares me. However, I am absolutely comfortable flying in an airplane.

What were some of your favorite courses in school? How did they enrich your understanding of aviation?

Math and physics. I have a technical background in applied physics, so the understanding of aviation comes easier to me than to the non-tech guys.

What’s the best piece of advice that you’ve ever received from a mentor?

“Do your best during design and simulations, as prototypes always underperform compared to initial expectations.”

Want to see your team featured in a Q&A as well? Fill out our questionnaire to get started!

Whether he was building his own little airplane in the garage or standing at an airport fence watching takeoffs, Jim Corning knew since he was just three years old that aviation would be in his future. Since then, he has worked for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), learned to fly, and built two aircraft-part manufacturing companies.

Now, Corning is working on his entry for the GoFly Prize challenge. Funding is one of his biggest challenges at the moment, he says, but he’s determined to do what it takes to see his device soar.

Read on to find out more about Corning’s career and his vision for the future of aviation.

How did you realize you were passionate about aviation? What’s your earliest memory associated with flight?

I’ve wanted to fly for as long as I can remember. When I was three or four years old, my dad built me a wooden box with wings and a tail, and I tried pretty mightily to figure out a way to get that thing off the ground!

What excites you about the GoFly Prize challenge?

GoFly is applying just the right amount of pressure at just the right time to bring the next wave of aircraft out into the light. A lot of people are already working on these personal flyers, and the combination of prize money and community will surely accelerate that process.

What does the world look like after you create your flying device?

That is fun to imagine, isn’t it? Personal aviation could change a lot of things. For one, people might be able to see what’s hidden where the highways don’t run and develop a deeper sense of concern for the environment. Borders may also become more porous, and border walls could eventually become an anachronism. Emergency first response and search and rescue operations will also likely be executed much faster, since rescuers will be able to get into much tighter places.

As for me, I look forward to visiting a motorcycle rally on my machine!

What is your biggest challenge in the GoFly Prize competition currently? How do you plan to overcome it?

Funding. We are looking to raise about $75K for an engine, electric motors, and machining services. I am talking to potential sponsors, looking for potential customers such as the Department of Defense, and considering more grass-roots approaches including crowdfunding and selling T-shirts.

When did you decide to pursue a career in aviation?

It was around 1985. I had a private pilot’s license, the industry I was working in at the time was headed for a fall, and General Dynamics Fort Worth (where F-16s are built) was hiring. Since then, I have worked for the FAA and for Mooney Aircraft, been a consulting FAA-DER, and built two aviation companies, one making composite parts and the other producing bulletproof panels for aircraft.

Was there someone who inspired your interest in aviation when you were a child? Who did you look up to?

I read everything I could find about the Wright Brothers, Alberto Santos-Dumont, Glenn Curtiss, Charles Lindbergh, and many other test pilots and astronauts. My parents helped provide books and took me to the airport fence a few times. I even watched that goofy movie Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines 10 or 15 times.

I also really look up to aerospace engineer Burt Rutan and admire his designs, but I have never met him or had a chance to talk to him.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received from a mentor?

Never give up!

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Team ZEVA’s design for the GoFly Prize challenge began the same way so many other great ideas are born—as a sketch on a napkin. Colleagues Stephen Tibbitts and Ben Gould were working on a different project together when the proverbial sketch came together over lunch and now, Tibbitts and his team of 14 are on their way to building a personal flying device called the Zero.

Receiving his private pilot’s license opened Tibbitts’ eyes to the need for a personal eVTOL device as a more convenient and sustainable means of transportation, and he has been working on bringing his vision to life ever since.

Read on to learn more about Tibbitts and what triggered his passion for building!

What’s your earliest memory associated with flight?

I’m not sure if my first memory was the drogue parachute I found or the cardboard wings I strapped to my back, running down a hill as fast as I could, just trying to get a little air.

What excites you about GoFly?

GoFly is an amazing catalyst for small-scale aviation development. I look forward to seeing inventive solutions and technologies that will be brought to light because of GoFly.

What does the world look like after you create your flying device? How do you think you will change the world?

Electric cars are amazing, but electric aircraft will be even more amazing. In a small way, we will help reduce carbon in the planet’s atmosphere. Hopefully, it will also help re-energize interest among young people and drive them to get involved in aviation, lower stress levels for commuters, and provide a fun recreational platform.

What is your biggest challenge in the GoFly Prize competition currently? How do you plan to overcome it?

Energy density is our biggest challenge. There are many innovative ideas for battery technologies out there, but most are not in large-scale production yet. For the time being, we plan to use modular battery packs that can be swapped out for higher density cells when they become available.

When did you become interested in aviation and building aircraft?

In the early 2000s, I obtained my private pilot’s license. Through that process, I learned that general aviation was in decline due to many factors, including the demise of small airports. Without these airports, general aviation aircraft are no longer a practical means of transportation because you can’t get to where you need to go. After thinking about this problem extensively, the only logical conclusion was VTOL, and since I have experience in electrical, it has to be eVTOL. So, I started working on an eVTOL scale model and eventually submitted a grant application to NASA to start building this design.

What were some of your favorite courses in school?

Physics, engineering and design. And for anyone interested in aviation and aerodynamics, getting your private pilot’s license is very important. It teaches you the many aspects of flight.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received from a mentor?

My dad, Dale A. Tibbitts, told me: “Listen and then just start doing it. Adjust your course along the way.”

Want to see your team featured in a Q&A as well? Fill out our questionnaire to get started!

A Stanford University graduate, Trek Aerospace team captain Robert Bulaga is no newcomer to the world of aviation. Bulaga is an expert in ducted propeller technology and currently works with a number of companies on integrating this technology into their devices, all while developing his own creative design for the GoFly Prize.

Along with his team members, Jose Fierro and Joshua Portlock, Bulaga is building the FlyKart 2, a single-seat, open-cockpit, 10-rotor, ducted fan, electrically-powered VTOL aircraft. The team impressed in Phase I and emerged as one of our ten winners.

Get to know more about Robert Bulaga below!

GoFly: What’s your earliest memory associated with flight?

Robert Bulaga: My very first flight was on a C-47 plane. I was en-route from Guam to Hawaii, and I was only three years old.

GoFly: What excites you about GoFly?

Bulaga: I’ve dreamt of building a personal aircraft that could fit in a one-car garage and be economical to operate. GoFly assures me that I’m not alone in this dream.

GoFly: What’s one of your proudest achievements to date?

Bulaga: I went to college so that I could design, build, and fly unconventional aircraft. I’ve made a successful career out of bringing surprising designs to life.

GoFly: When did you decide to pursue a career in aviation?

Bulaga: I’ve always liked airplanes, so when my high school adviser suggested that I should be an engineer, it felt like the right path for me.

GoFly: What were some of your favorite courses in school?

Bulaga: Not surprisingly, math and science were my favorite. I loved word problems.

GoFly: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received from a mentor?

Bulaga: “A turtle makes no progress unless he sticks out his head.” In other words, don’t be afraid to take chances.

Want to see your team featured in a Q&A as well? Fill out our questionnaire to get started!

Inspired by the likes of Otto Lilienthal and the Wright Brothers, Gary Gress has been interested in aviation since age four. The creative force behind Team Athena Aero, Gress is diligently working on his design, an inertial bi-copter, in Calgary, Canada. He has been building various bi-copter models since 1999 and continues to perfect his approach, tweaking elements with every new iteration.

Read on to get to know Gress and his vision of a world full of personal flying devices.

What’s your earliest memory associated with flight?

Being taken by my father to Toronto International Airport when I was about four years old. By age five or six, I was making model planes out of the cardboard that came with my dad’s shirts when he brought them home from the dry cleaners.

What excites you about GoFly?

GoFly has the potential to enable a universal dream of mankind: truly personal flight, without airports or runways. The freedom and autonomy of that are exciting.

What does the world look like after you create your flying device?

In its fullest sense, an extra dimension will be added to the world and to our lives. Perhaps one day, cities, as we know them now, will be obsolete. Roads, parking lots and gridlock could be a thing of the past. All that wasted space can then be returned to nature and park land.

What are your biggest challenges in the GoFly Prize competition currently?

I have three challenges: recognizing, gathering and applying the resources needed to viably implement my ideas physically in full scale.

You’ve worked on bi-copters for some time now. Can you discuss the evolution of your models?

From about 1999 to the present, I’ve worked on developing non-cyclic bicopters, which is the aircraft type I’ve entered into the GoFly competition. I watched an expert RC helicopter pilot try to fly my very first bi-copter back in 2000 at a helicopter get-together in Waterloo, Ontario. The device couldn’t even fly, as it was very unstable in pitch. By 2002, I finally built my first hovering bi-copter. Fast-forward to 2009, and I was demonstrating a 15-pound ‘eVader’ bi-copter to the University of Calgary (where I now study and work). And now, my latest bi-copter design is a part of the GoFly competition.

What were some of your favorite courses in school? How did they enrich your understanding of aviation?

Dynamics, Differential Equations, and Design of Machinery. The first two allowed me to investigate and validate the stability of my aircraft, while the third was the foundation for implementation, alongside my tinkering.

What’s the best piece of advice that you’ve ever received from a mentor?

It takes a lot of work to make something simple.

Want to see your team featured in a Q&A as well? Fill out our questionnaire to get started!

A 23-year-old accounting major from Washington, D.C., Alex Smolen is the one-man powerhouse behind team Scoop. Unintimidated by his solo-status, Smolen is currently working out of his garage workshop on his flying device, the Pegasus 1. As he presses on in the competition in memory of his grandfather, a naval fighter pilot in World War II, Smolen is open to having new members join his team.

Read on to get to know Smolen and hear about how he got into the aviation space—with an accounting background.

GoFly: When did you become interested in the aviation space?

Alex Smolen: I always wanted to build personal VTOL devices and often joked about doing it “one day.” It wasn’t until I found out about GoFly that I saw a promising path appear at the right time.

GoFly: Was there someone who inspired your interest in aviation when you were a child?

Smolen: My grandfather, Francis Smolen, was a naval fighter pilot in World War II. I remember visiting air and space museums and going to air shows with him as a young kid. My favorite story of his was one about a strafing run on a Japanese air base.

During the run, his plane ran over a large bump and he didn’t know what it was. When he landed back on the aircraft carrier, he looked at the fuselage and saw that his belly tank was gone, but there was dirt was in its place. Because of this he got the nickname Scoop—he was the first Allied soldier to touch Japanese soil and come back alive.

These experiences and his stories have always inspired me and captured my imagination. His memory draws me toward the sky.

GoFly: What were some of your favorite courses in school? How do they enrich your understanding of aviation?

Smolen: I was an accounting major in college so my coursework is not very applicable to this competition. Despite this, we live in an age where you can learn almost anything through the internet, and this is how I have gained most of my aerospace knowledge. It is a misconception today that you need a college degree to pursue your dreams. I am an advocate for project-based learning, where people learn not only in classrooms but also by going out, doing, building and by working towards a goal.

GoFly: What is your biggest challenge in the GoFly Prize competition currently?

Smolen: Being a team comprised of a solo individual is my biggest challenge, but I am embracing it. That being said, I am looking for other talented individuals who want to collaborate with me. Regardless of whether or not my team expands, Iook for the Pegasus 1 to fly.

GoFly: What does the world look like after you create your flying device?

Smolen: The world will look a lot smaller from above. Think shorter commutes and faster emergency response times. These are the immediate impacts.

GoFly: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received from a mentor?

Smolen: Don’t forget to have fun.

Want to see your team featured in a Q&A as well? Fill out our questionnaire to get started!

Thirty-seven members strong, Project Talaria formed when a friend casually mentioned the GoFly Prize competition to team manager Philip Essle, a student at the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). Surprised that the university didn’t already have a team building a jetpack or another personalized flying device, Essle knew he had to form a team and get the project off the ground.

Now, the team has a prototype for their flying device, the Hermes I (pictured below), and is eager to see it soar. Get to know Essle, along with a few of his fellow team members, in our Q&A below.

GoFly: What excites you about GoFly?

Philip Essle: The prospect of pioneering a new area in aviation—and playing an important role in developing this new field of personal air mobility—excites me.

Lina Hosking: It’s exciting to be able to design something from the conception stage, onward. We have quite a few student teams here working on different engineering projects, but most of them already have working concepts that they’ve been using for years, and they are just building the next iteration. With GoFly, we get to design all of it—from scratch.

Thijs Van Der Burgt: I’m excited for the opportunity to show the world that a revolution in aviation is near.

GoFly: What is your biggest challenge in the GoFly Prize competition currently?

David Oort Alonso: Securing funds is one of our biggest challenges. Not winning Phase I was a big hit on the team, but at the same time it was a unique opportunity for us to question our design process, which made our current device much better than it was.

Hosking: I am currently working on the powertrain of our device, specifically the gearbox, and we’re debating whether we should do more research on off-the-shelf components or just have one custom made. Another challenge is money. We are pretty far in our development, ready to start placing orders for actual parts, but the money just isn’t there.

Van Der Burgt: Time. None of my team members, including me, were working on Project Talaria full time until recently. From now on, we’re making the Hermes I a priority.

GoFly: What does the world look like after you create your flying device? How do you think you will change the world?

Alonso: I envision a world of flying people. It’ll be a world without roads, where humans travel in the third dimension on a daily basis. We’re getting closer towards realizing a technology that fully integrates human and machine to perform tasks that humans have aspired to for centuries: flying.

Hosking: There’s still a long way to go before personal flying devices drive great change in people’s lives. Regulations have to be changed, batteries need to become more efficient and the concept needs to be proven before becoming truly commercialized. But if personalized flying devices take off, they’ll become another mode of transportation, similar to electric bikes.

Joey Dekker: People will be able to use these devices to escape busy streets and experience flying like never before.

GoFly: What’s one fun fact about you that even your team members don’t know?

Essle: Most don’t know that I lived on a boat for two years and sailed from the East coast of the U.S. to Australia during that time. I’ve sailed at a national semi-professional level for four years and participated in seven world championships representing Brazil. I even made it to the top ten at my last two World Championships.

Alonso: I have deep dialogues with myself. I’m also a big nerd, but everyone knows that. Progress through learning is my favorite feeling in the world.

Hosking: I am actually afraid of flying in a commercial aircraft.

GoFly: What are some of your favorite courses in school? How do they enrich your understanding of aviation?

Essle: Economics and art. Art has taught me that being creative is the best way to solve existing problems, but it also taught me that keeping things simple is crucial for success. In economics, I’ve learned that everything is connected, and one change in one component of a system affects all others.

Alonso: Mathematics helps me stick to facts and truths that can be proven, while physics shows me how mathematical truths translate into reality. And, programming teaches me how breaking down a challenging problem into small pieces and can produce great results.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received from a mentor?

Essle: Keep it simple.

Hosking: Learn as many languages as you can, as communicating with someone in their native language is way more effective.

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