EAA Founder's Innovation Prize

Deadline: 2017-03-01
Award: $25,000

The goal of the prize is to keep the spirit of innovation alive in the EAA community and leverage its creativity toward solving specific challenges facing the general aviation community. The top finishers will receive a cash grant toward developing their product and prominent exposure at AirVenture.

The 2017 EAA Founder’s Innovation Prize is a contest to solve the problem of fatal loss of control accidents in amateur-built aircraft through innovation. The contest is intentionally open-ended, with the only stated goal to reduce fatalities from this type of accident in amateur-built aircraft dramatically over the next decade - 25% in the next five years, 50% in the next ten.

Loss of control (LOC) in flight is the leading cause of fatal accidents in general aviation, particularly in amateur-built aircraft. Fatal LOC events include base-to-final stalls, departure stalls, loss of control while maneuvering, spatial disorientation, and more. The 2017 contest seeks ways to solve this problem. The solution could be technical in nature or otherwise.