Boeing sponsors $2 Mln prize for personal flying devices

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A new competition to encourage innovators to create a safe and easy-to-use personal flying device launched at one of the aerospace industry's premiere engineering technology conferences. Gwen Lighter, CEO of The GoFly Prize opened registration for the competition at the SAE 2017 AeroTech Congress & Exhibition.

The two-year competition, managed by GoFly with Boeing as Grand Sponsor, encourages teams from around the world to leverage recent advances in propulsion, energy, light-weight materials, and control and stability systems to make the dream of personal flight a reality. Prize money of $2M will be awarded to the most innovative teams.

Teams will be challenged to create a personal flying device that can be used by anyone, anywhere. GoFly is calling upon the world's greatest thinkers, designers, engineers, inventors and builders to construct safe, ultra-compact, quiet, urban-compatible, personal flying devices capable of carrying a person 20 miles without refueling or recharging with vertical, or near vertical take-off and landing capability.

GoFly will provide teams with access to experienced Mentors and Masters in design, engineering, finance, law, and marketing, but the ultimate design and functionality of the device will be up to the imagination of the competitors.

"There is perhaps no dream more universal than the dream of human flight. GoFly is going to make that dream a reality," Lighter said. "GoFly is a shift towards embracing innovative solutions to expand the desire to explore the unknown and push ourselves to new heights. Today we look to the sky and say ‘look at that plane fly,' but two years from now we'll look up and say ‘look at that person fly.'"

"The GoFly Prize competition aligns with our company's goals of inspiring people across the globe and changing the world through aerospace innovation," said Boeing Chief Technology Officer Greg Hyslop. "We're excited to see how the visionaries of the future will take on this ambitious and exciting challenge."

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