Gary Osoba <email> writes:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1638710914506519616

Watching this video of an eighteen kilometer human powered flight helps to place in perspective the magnitude of Bryan Allen's channel crossing nearly three decades ago, which was a two hour and forty nine minute herculean effort pedaling against headwinds. Even with the benefit of much more advanced materials, design tools, and the analysis and understanding which hindsight yields, human powered flight remains as a serious challenge. The standing world record is with the MIT Daedalus (115.11 km), which traced the path of Icarus' dream.