MIT Daedalus 87, Washington Dulles airport terminal B, 22 May 2017 2. Human powered aircraft, identical to one which in 1988 flew from Crete to Santorino, a flight of 74 miles which took 3 hours 54 minutes. Three were designed and built by Massachussetts Institute of Technology faculty and students. They had a frame of carbon fibre tubes with wings and tail made of various types of plastic. Total weight was 69 pounds / 31 kg. In Greek mythology, Daedalus made feather wings for himself and his son Icarus to escape from Crete. But Icarus flew too close to the sun, the wax holding his feathers softened and he fell to his death in the sea.
