Local couple’s nephew part of ‘Icarus Cup’ competition

Alec Proudfoot, the nephew of Karen and Clay Parsons who live in Deer Harbor, was part of a human-powered airplane competition.

On Saturday, July 21, the 2018 Human Powered Airplane “Icarus Cup” competition was held at the Sywell Aerodrome in Northampton, England. Proudfoot’s DaSH Project placed first. Their aircraft, the Aerocycle 301, designed by engineer roudfoot, is powered by the pilot using bicycle pedals inside a small cockpit and a large propeller. It can achieve a top speed of approximately 25 MPH and flies up to 25 feet off the ground.

Proudfoot and his team are based in Palo Alto, California. He was also one of the designers of the first electric car, the EV1, produced by General Motors and the lead engineer on the electric car team at Google before his retirement. He now works as an independent inventor.