NASA and the Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency Foundation have announced a Personal Air Vehicle (PAV) Centennial Challenge that will award annual prizes totalling $250,000 for demonstrating improvements in general aviation technology: $25,000 each for internal and external noise, handling characteristics and ease of use; and $150,000 for the team whose aircraft demonstrates the best overall flight performance measured by door-to-door trip velocity, energy consumption and passenger carrying capability. The first competition will be in mid-2006. Funding for NASA’s PAV programme was cut this year.
Source: Flight International
