California IN BRIEF : SAN LUIS OBISPO : Helicopter Flies on Human Power

A human-powered helicopter lifted off the ground in the gym of California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, the first such feat in aviation history, said students who built the chopper. A bicycle racer pedaled the helicopter into the air to the cheers of aeronautic engineering students who worked on the project. “There’s never been a human-powered helicopter that has gotten off the ground,” said Neal Saiki, a 23-year-old senior who has worked on the project more than two years. The 100-pound copter, known as the Da Vinci III, hovered inches above the Mott Gym floor as cyclist Greg McNeil, an aeronautical engineering major who races on the U.S. cycling team, pedaled furiously. The next step, the students said, will be to fly the helicopter again, this time for officials of the American Helicopter Society, who must witness the event before it formally becomes a part of aviation history.