August 11, 2008 5:30 PM PDT
The lone returning competitor to this year's event, the Slovenian-built Pipistrel known as Virus, swept most of the NASA prize money. The plane, which was also the big winner at the 2007 event, won $50,000 for aircraft safety. The Pipistrel sport plane added such precautions as a cabin integrated with Kevlar and an installed ballistic parachute system, or a deployable rocket that would launch a parachute 100 feet above the plane in the event of an emergency.
Photo by Stefanie Olsen/CNET News
