The Japan International Birdman rally is a competition held over Lake Biwa in Japan where teams of students and enthusiasts compete to fly the furthest in human powered aircraft they have designed and built themselves.

James and Max are members of the British Human Powered Flying Club which holds an annual competition of its own, the Icarus Cup, here in the UK. They were invited to visit the Japanese competition in July this year where they were able to speak to the various teams competing and see their aircraft close-up.

This talk will cover the history and development of that competition and how it relates to the future of the sport of human powered flight in Britain.

Registration: 18:00 - 18:30
Lecture: 18:30 - 19:30
Drinks Reception - 19:30-20:30

All RAeS HQ lectures are free to attend for both members and non-members. To register, please click the 'Book Now' button below.

To find out more about the Human Powered Flight Specialist Group click the following links:

Human Powered Flight

Human Powered Flight

James Denton
James Denton is the current president of the Southampton University Human Powered Aircraft society (SUHPA) and is currently leading the society as it embarks on its ambitious new project to build a Human Powered Aircraft capable of crossing the English Channel. Alongside his society responsibilities he is currently in his third year of study for his Aeronautics and Astronautics degree at the University of Southampton.

Max Polkinghorn
Max worked for John Edgley during his gap year which came just after the Covid lockdown. He entered Southampton University to read physics but became disillusioned and wanted to get back to practical engineering; he returned to work for John and has been there since. He has built a set of wings for the Sprint two seat aerobatic trainer and has done extensive work on both the Optica and Sprint demonstrators which are now flying with a full CofA. He is currently working on building human powered aircraft kits, five are being built, in addition to keeping the two existing Aerocycles flying.