GoFly Personal Flight Competition Begins Final Phase

The third and final phase of GoFly, a global competition for personal flying device designs, is now underway. Five Phase II winners, selected on the basis of their revisions to Phase I written reports and “demonstrated performance of progress,” were announced in March. Phase III will include a fly-off—scheduled for Feb. 29, 2020, and open to the public—to demonstrate the devices’ operation and performance. Entries include everything from multicopters to jetpacks and successful teams stand to receive a share of $2 million in prize money.

According to GoFly, “The personal flying device must be safe, quiet, ultra-compact, and near-VTOL—capable of carrying a single person for a distance of 20 miles without refueling or recharging. The invention should be user-friendly and, of course, provide the thrill of flight. Outside of these requirements, the function and design are up to innovator teams.”

Competition entrants, which can be either teams or individual, have access to mentors in the form of aviation and engineering experts from around the world. The competition is open to new teams until Oct. 1, 2019.  In this podcast, GoFly founder and CEO Gwen Lighter sat down with AVweb at AirVenture 2019 to discuss the competition’s goals and how the teams are progressing.