Icarus Cup 2022

Jesse visited the Icarus Cup 2022, an annual HPA competition held in the UK, organised by the British Human Powered Flight Club (BHPFC). This year’s edition was at Lasham Airfield, between London and Southampton.
An astonishing 5 HPAs were present: Aerocycle301, Aerocycle302, Betterfly, Lazarus, and Airglow.
The race for the first place was between Kit Buchanan and Lewis Rawlinson. Niall Paterson had to leave halfway through the week. The rest of us were happy to get off the ground at all!

Jesse had a first flight in Betterfly and made the first 5 s flight in Lazarus. On the last competition day, he flew 700 m distance in Aerocycle301, gaining up to 5 m altitude. After the covid lockdown years with less cycling going on, it was a welcome surprise to still be able to fly that far. The final stats show that Lewis won the Icarus Cup 2022, and Jesse got a respectable 5th place.

Alan Blundell was there too. He helped building the wooden HPA Puffin in the 1960s, a heroic effort. He never got to fly an HPA though, so he decided to do something about that. After a couple of tries, he managed to get Aerocycle301 off the ground, at the age of 84! As far as we know, he could be the oldest human being to ever fly an HPA.

A change of the board took place during the AGM. Hania Mohiuddin and Matt Watts, who served the BHPFC well, handed over their responsibilities to Tamara Ivancova, Charles Dhenin, and Lewis Rawlinson.

Here is an overview of the event with photos in random order!
GoPro footage of some flights and flight attemps will hopefully be soon online on YouTube.

Jesse poses in front of the Lazarus HPA, with John McIntyre and SUHPA team members in the background.
The competition marshalls in Tony’s van. They take safety serious, hence the serious faces.
Ioan is flying Betterfly.
Hania is filling out some insurance paperwork, just in case…
Kit has just landed Aerocycle301, and Alan (84) is the first one to arrive to stabilize the HPA.
Kit decided to not continue his 1 km trial, but turned around and flew back to the starting point!
Kit Buchanan flying Aerocycle301.
Kit trying to be Icarus and gaining altitude, backlit by the sun.
Kit flying, a lovely sunrise picture.
Icarus Cup 2022, written in the dew on Aerocycle301’s rudder.
A rare photo of Kit actually smiling!
Charles Dhenin of SUHPA at the propeller, while Yaseen fixes some electronics in the cockpit. Tamara decides to relax on the ground.
Team SUHPA carries their partly deassembled HPA Lazarus back into the hangar.
Jesse getting ready to enter the cockpit, for his first flight in Aerocycle301 this Icarus Cup.
Dave holding the tail of Aerocycle301.
HPA Lazarus of team SUHPA being assembled around 5am.
Dave and Max are installing the elevator controls on Aerocycle301.
The Lasham Airfield restaurant ‘The Flight Deck’. We often would meet here throughout the day and chat.
Hania is showing to Ioan how she will beat the air into submission if the winds stay too high to fly.
A group photo! I couldn’t find the settings for the self-timer, so this would do just fine!
Some random meeting at the hangar. Fred To (middle, orange shirt), one of the BHPFC founders, visited that day.
Some big names in the HPA world sitting at the table: John Edgley, Fred To, Bill Brooks, John McIntyre. Standing at the back: Jesse van Kuijk, Ioan Hill, Hania Mohiuddin.
Lewis Rawlinson smiling during the AGM. And he didn’t even know yet that he would win this year’s Icarus Cup!
John Edgley taking notes during the RAeS HPAG meeting.
The actual Icarus Cup!
Unfortunately, sometimes the gliding field was used for gliding. There were some evenings with good HPA weather, but no airfield available…
Dave, Peter, Matt, and Tom discussing how to repair some damage to Betterfly’s tail section attachment. It was fixed beautifully.
Team SUHPA installing tail sections on Lazarus.
Team SUHPA at the runway: Charles, Tamara, and Rob (the quiet guy).
Niall Paterson just landed SUHPA after a nice low-altitude flight.
Meanwhile, Jesse tries to get Betterfly in the air. While he is too busy pedaling, Matt finds time to look at the camera.
A marshall, a visitor, and John Edgley are quietly observing the HPA activity.
Tom preparing for a flight in Betterfly. Note the absence of a fairing: when pedaling Betterfly, you probably need all the air cooling!
HPA Lazarus after a flight attempt.
Aerocycle301 is being walked back to the starting point of that morning.
People admiring the lovely yellow colored rudder of Betterfly.
Ed gives his best impression of a black hole surrounded by a glowing yellow accretion cloud, while holding the wing of Lazarus.
A nice shot of the Aerocycle301 empennage in the morning glow.
Matt is not completely happy with the prop blade pitch settings…
Aerocycle302 decided to have a rapid unscheduled disassembly. John McIntyre inspecting the elevator.
Aerocycle302 decided to have a rapid unscheduled disassembly. Pilot Lewis was completely unhurt.
Bill Brooks showing everyone how flying is actually done, with his electric powered ultralight. The modified prop makes a wonderful nostalgic four-stroke engine sound…
Morning stretching exercises. Just kidding, we’re looking for a dropped pin…
Installing a wing section on Lazarus. Yaseen is facing the camera. Note the rectangular spar section!
We got a tour of the Gliding Heritage Center and their workshop during one of the afternoons. Beautiful craftsmanship, but compared to HPAs, these gliders are heavy!
Airglow being checked out in a hangar. Max is admiring the underside of the wing center section.
Airglow propeller hub. Say, was that red warning label always there?