虎扑电竞

The Tohoku University Windnauts have won the "human-powered propeller-driven aircraft" category at the 46th Japan International Birdman Rally, which took place on July 27- 28 at Hikone City in Shiga Prefecture.

The annual event - which was broadcast nationally this year on September 4 - features attempts to fly as far as possible over Lake Biwa in a human-powered aircraft. Teams launch off a 10-meter-high jetty on Matsubara Beach.

Piloted by third-year engineering student Todo Naru, the Windnauts' aircraft achieved a distance of 21,823.69 meters in 64 minutes of flight time. It was enough to beat 15 other teams to take top spot, but fell short of the student record of 42,837.78 meters in under 2 hours held by last year's Windnauts team.

"Although we didn't break the record, we are immensely proud of this victory. The entire team worked really hard all year," said Windnauts leader Masanobu Sataka, a third-year student from the Faculty of Arts and Letters. "We want to thank the companies that provided the materials, our supporters who contributed through the Tohoku University Fund, and everyone who believed in us and cheered us on."

The Windnauts have a good record at the Birdman Rally, having now won the "human-powered propeller-driven aircraft" category seven times. The club's new leadership team, consisting of first- and second-year students, will soon begin preparations to build a new aircraft to defend their title at next year's competition.