In 1980, the American Helicopter Association established the Sikorsky Prize, a challenge for human powered helicopters with a grant reward of $250,000.

For 30 years, no one came close to beating the challenge, until a group of engineers at the University of Maryland starting putting fliers up around campus.

According to Adam Cole of NPR, the fliers stated simply: "Are you light and strong? And do you want to break a world record?"

The following slides show what happened when the lithe and muscular began to apply.