Money from the Sky; Pipistrel Wins Big!

bydanjohnson

Saturday, February 12, 2011 at 08:16 PM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

The inaugural Personal Air Vehicle (PAV) Challenge awarded $160,000 to the Pipistrel Virus for its top performance in categories like overall best, efficiency, and short runway.
Sponsored by NASA and the CAFE Foundation, the PAV Challenge is a prize-based competition designed to stimulate rapid innovation and progress in personal air vehicle efficiency.
The contest series will continue, with the next event in August 2008 featuring tougher standards and an increased prize pool of $300,000, part of a $2 million commitment from NASA.

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The next PAV Challenge will take place August 2-10, 2008 with tougher standards but even more dough: $300,000, part of $2 million NASA has put up for the contest series. I’ve been asked to help judge the 2008 event for the Editor’s Jury Prize of $50,000. Sounds like fun!

We’ve all heard the line: To make a small fortune in aviation, start with a big one. Yet thanks to Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency (CAFE) Foundation and NASA, the laws of gravity seem reversed. A Pipistrel Virus (say: “VeerUs”) went home from the Personal Air Vehicle (PAV) Challenge event with four checks totaling (are you ready for this!?): $160,000. The money represents the biggest share of $250,000 awared for this first year of five contest seasons. Australian pilot and LSA businessman Michael Coates flew a modified version of the Pipistrel Virus owned by Vance Turner (photo, on right) of Rescue, California. Lots more details are available; read the rest of the story. *** Virus, sibling of the motorglider Sinus. (“SeenUs”), took the best overall prize ($100,000); efficiency ($25,000); short runway ($25,000); and second place in the top speed prize ($10,000). An RV-4 took noise ($50,000) and top speed ($15,000) and a Cessna 172 won the $25,000 handling qualities prize. *** The PAV Challenge is one of seven NASA events aimed at stimulating rapid innovation and progress by offering substantial prize awards, kind of an X-Prize for efficiency.