Qatar team bid to become first in region to fly human-powered plane

In 1988, a human-powered aircraft flew from Heraklion in Crete to the Greek island of Santorini, setting a new world record for the longest ever flight of such a vehicle – 115 km. This epic journey lasted 3 hours, 54 minutes and 59 seconds, before it came to an abrupt end when a gust of wind broke off the plane’s tail, sending it crashing into the sea a few feet from the shore.

Despite this vivid example of the very real dangers of such an endeavor, a group of Qatar residents have set their sights on breaking this record, by flying an aircraft powered only by a cyclist over the sea from Bahrain to Qatar.

“We’re doing this because it’s hard,” engineer-turned-airline-pilot John Meares, a member of the Qatar Human Powered Aircraft Group (QHPAG), told us.

“Why do something easy? We thought of a few different ideas, but this one really captured our imagination.”

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Qatar team bid to become first in region to fly human-powered plane