Igor I. Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter Competition AeroVelo's Atlas human-powered helicopter conducted a flight that met all the requirements of the AHS International competition, and received the $250,000 prize. In the history of the prize, dozens of teams have designed and built human-powered helicopters, although few have made it airborne. The AHS competition was named in honor of Igor Sikorsky, one of the founders of the technical society. AHS initiated the prize purse at $25,000, but later raised it to $250,000. The first HPH to get off the ground was the "Da Vinci III" in 1989, designed and built by students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Igor Sikorsky first flight on May 13, 1913. In recognition for his accomplishment, he was awarded an honorary degree in engineering from Saint Petersburg Polytechnical Institute in 1914. Sikorsky took the experience from building the Russky Vityaz to develop the S-22 "Ilya Muromets" airliner. Due to outbreak of World War I, he redesigned it as the world's first four-engined bomber, for which he was decorated with the Order of St. Vladimir. After World War I, Igor Sikorsky briefly became an engineer for the French forces in Russia, during the Russian Civil War. Seeing little opportunity for himself as an aircraft designer in