Thank you for visiting the Human Powered Aircraft Group (HPAG) at Virginia Tech website! We are a group of Virginia Tech engineering students working to design and build a human powered airplane for entry in the Kremer Sport Prize Competition. HPAG@VT, a university recognized student organization, has as its founding goal the development of a human powered airplane through real-world engineering design and analysis.

In the fall of 2005, a group of six Virginia Tech aerospace engineering seniors conceived of a human-powered aircraft design project that would span several years and, thus several separate consecutive groups of students. As part of the requisite senior design course, each consecutive year would build upon the accomplishments made during the previous year. During the initial year, which spanned from the fall of 2005 to the spring of 2006, the HPAG at Virginia Tech completed most of the preliminary design of the aircraft and built a quarter-scale R/C model.

The 2006-2007 team began the year making improvements to the quarter-scale model's flight performance and flew several flight tests throughout the fall semester. After these flight tests, it was concluded that the aircraft configuration would allow completion of the competition course without the specified wind conditions; the proper weather conditions were never present during flight testing to validate flight with winds.

As of 2007-2008, the team continued to advance upon the design by building parts and validating the design through testing. A prototype propeller was completely designed and manufactured and was henceforth tested for efficiency with the use of a dynamometer and land-based vehicle. In addition, a deflection test stand has been designed in order to perform a structural test on the inner box-wing section.

In the 2008-2009 season, the team set out with the intention of making record progress. Working heavily off the designs and work of previous years, HPA@VT broke up the ultimate goal by components and proceeded to create a more organized and dedicated approach to completing the HPA. With a major focus on the need to keep project continuity, they insured that crucial information was kept for the next year's team to finish the job and construct the airplane for final testing.

The year of 2009-2010 is warming up quickly into a productive year for the team. We're on track to finish testing and building a mock cockpit/cart system for dynamic testing of the propeller. The Wings team will soon be testing the wing in the wind tunnels and designing finalized construction methods for the box wing frame. The ambitious goal of the year is of course a final plane flown in the air. If you're interested in helping out, feel free to Contact Us and check out the rest of the website!