Robert Adam, one of the organizers of the Green Speed Cup in Germany and pilot of the Flight Design CTLS that ended the competition in seventh place, shared some information on the challenges faced by pilots in this year’s event. “We had 12-15 knots crosswind today (only a little less yesterday) and Tim-Peter (-Voss) managed this demanding taildragger (the SPACEK s.r.o. SD-1 microlight) calmly!” This very light and short-coupled airplane flies with a variety of two- and four-stroke engines, but Voss’ had a Verner JVC-360 four-stroke unit of 38 horsepower. It averaged a little over four liters per hour fuel consumption per 100 kilometers (59 mpg) over the practice day and two contest days. In the Green Flight Challenge, it would have been penalized for being a single-seater and thus having a lower passenger-mile-per-gallon figure than the two, and even four-seat entrants. The TDI turbo-diesel DA-40, for instance, would have had a 4X passenger mile per gallon figure if that had …
Green Speed Cup – Training Day is Over and Day One Establishes a Record
Happily for those of us who champion the idea of electric aircraft, the practice day and day one of the Green Speed Cup in Strausberg, Germany fetched a world electric aircraft distance record for e-Genius and an outstanding showing for all concerned. This beginning for the third running of the Cup sets a high standard for the coming days. The Green Speed Cup has elements of soaring flight through the use of thermals, careful speed flying that emphasizes fuel economy, and precise flight planning with attention to the planned route, winds aloft, and power settings. Green Speed Cup organizers map out a series of triangular routes to test the limits of piloting skills and airplane efficiency. As the organizers explain, it’s all pretty simple: “To fly ‘green’ you have to know how fast to fly and which power setting to use. This depends on the current wind-profile, on the current lift and on several other parameters like the aerodynamical properties.” …
Aviation Week Recognizes CAFE Foundation’s Efforts
As noted in this blog. Dr. Brien Seeley, President of the CAFE Foundation, has been actively promoting the idea of a short to intermediate range Sky Taxi, a two-seat aerial vehicle that would carry its passengers safely from 420-foot runway “pocket airports” to other such runways at other urban and suburban settings, or even pockets situated within major airports. The safety and utility promised by these electrically-powered aircraft would provide convenient, inexpensive trips for commuters who would enjoy TSA-free travel up to 500 miles at point-to-point speeds exceeding even private LearJets. Aviation Week recently noted efforts by John Langford, CEO of UAV specialist Aurora Flight Sciences, to achieve part of Dr. Seeley’s far-reaching goals with today’s technology. As Graham Warwick reports in the magazine, “Five years after DayJet’s on-demand air service using very light jets ceased operations, the dream of air taxis remains alive. But industry is looking at unmanned aircraft technology as a way to reduce or eliminate the …
NASA, CAFE Aims and Goals Converge
Charles F. Bolden, Jr., a retired U. S. Marine Corps Major General, astronaut and now NASA Administrator, had enough adventures in any one of his careers to have made several who’s who lists. The twelfth administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, his previous careers included 34-years in the Marine Corps during which he spent 14 years as a member of NASA’s Astronaut Office, traveled to orbit four times on the space shuttle, deployed the Hubble Space Telescope, and flew on the first U. S.-Russian joint shuttle mission. As a Marine fighter pilot, he flew over 100 combat missions during the Vietnam conflict; and during the first half of 1998, served as Commanding General of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force Forward in support of Operation Desert Thunder in Kuwait. According to his NASA biography, “Bolden’s many military decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross. He was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame …
EADS, Partners Open Electric Airplane Campus
The European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. (EADS), IABG – a company providing analysis and testing for aerospace companies, and Siemens AG are collaborating along with educational partners the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the Bundeswehr University Munich, the Munich University of Applied Sciences, Bauhaus Luftfahrt, and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to form the Ludwig Boelkow Campus consortium. Consortium partners have also signed a declaration of intent governing future cooperation between the newly founded Ludwig Boelkow Campus GmbH and the Munich Aerospace e.V., aerospace faculty. Named after an aerodynamicist who worked under Antony Fokker, and who headed development of the Messerschmidt ME-262 jet fighter in WWII, the campus will integrate multiple academic disciplines and industries in work designed to foster creative new ways of designing, building, and powering aircraft. With a primary goal to research areas of future flight, the campus and its industrial partners will help further development of next-generation European aircraft. As explained by EADS, projects reflect …
Engineered E. coli Mass Produce Key Precursors to Potent Biofuels
Hearing of E. coli outbreaks usually makes us reconsider our fast-food dining choices. Other possible, friendlier uses for the pesky bacteria, though, could show the way to clean energy production, making a “gasoline-like biofuel,” according to Harvard Medical School and Wyss Institute researchers. According to Harvard’s news release, “New lines of engineered bacteria can tailor-make key precursors of high-octane biofuels that could one day replace gasoline, scientists at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and the Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School report in the June 24 online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “’The big contribution is that we were able to program cells to make specific fuel precursors,’ said Pamela Silver, Ph.D., a Wyss Institute Core Faculty member, Professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School, and senior author of the study.” Gasoline has yet to be knocked off its top-fuel pedestal because synthetic, cleaner alternatives are often less powerful. …
24 hours of Le Mans 2013: Previewing the Future
The 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans ended Sunday morning with hybrid racers taking the first five places. Audi’s R18 e-tron Quattro took first, third and fifth places, with Toyota’s TS030 taking second and a well-earned fourth place. The winner averaged over 149 mph for the 24 hours. According to Wikipedia, Audi’s R18 e-tron quattro is a hybrid version of the R18 ultra, with a Williams Hybrid Power-designed flywheel accumulator system for energy storage which delivers 500 kiloJoules (about 10.8 horsepower for one second) to the front wheels via an electric motor, giving the car four (quattro) wheel drive. The system, as per the regulations, is only available at speeds above 120 km/h (75 mph). The car is fitted with a smaller 58 liter (15.3 U. S. gallon) fuel tank, which might account for some of the 34 pit stops for the winning entry, despite lower fuel consumption promised by the hybrid system. The e-tron has six driver selectable automatic modes on the steering wheel, allowing short …
Ultra High Lift Without Flaps
Dr. Gecheng Zha, an Associate Professor with the University of Miami has an impressive set of credentials, culminating in a Ph.D.from the University of Montreal, Ecole Polytechnique. That, and his impressive body of work helped impress the audience at the seventh annual Electric Aircraft Symposium this last April. His work over the last decade has focused on generating high lift and low drag through circulation control on wings – even leading to the concept that wings can generate thrust instead of drag. This integration of aerodynamic forces would lead to highly efficient aircraft capable of flying on little – or even no power. Earlier attempts to increase lift and decrease drag have relied on sometimes complex, multiply flapped and slotted wings which require powerful mechanical actuators to work their magic. Others have used rotating cylinders laid spanwise on wing leading and trailing edges, or active suction or blowing to achieve their goals. Zha has looked at these and other …
Cella Packages Hydrogen in Usable Ways
Cella Energy, a UK-based energy company, announced big plans for hydrogen storage in early 2011, and is now beginning to deliver on its earlier promise. Hydrogen, as desirable as it is for use in transportation, presents many hurdles in its use. Creating an infrastructure for its distribution has been a major impediment so far, but Cella hopes to overcome that with its nanotechnology pellets that can be distributed, transported and used much like fossil-fuel liquids. Cella highlights the fact that the hydrogen is stored in low-pressure form at ambient temperatures and can be handled safely in the open air (something that can’t be said about gasoline, for instance). It benefits customers by being able to use existing distribution networks and outlets. Imagine a gas station or airport refueling truck that dispenses hydrogen in pellet form as well as the normal liquid fuels. The company’s “elevator pitch” promotes the “three minute, 300 mile rule.” We’re used to pulling into a gas …
Verticopter® Now Elytair
Oliver Garrow has been working with a convertiplane design concept since 2007, and has flown over 100 “sorties” with large scale models to test the concept and demonstrate flight characteristics. Reported here in 2010, the aircraft initially looked a bit like an annular-wing configuration with pivoting engines or electric motors for lift and propulsion. Now, in its most current version, it looks a bit more like a box wing design with pivoting propulsion. Oliver’s company has changed its name from Verticopter to Elytair. As explained in company literature, “Elytair, named with the goal to offer Elite personnel Air transportation solutions, will be offered as a design platform through selective licensing agreements, for either manned or unmanned applications.” As with the Verticopter, the Elytair can land and take off in every conceivable mode; conventional take-offs and landings (CTOL), vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) and short take-offs and vertical landings (STOVL). As with helicopters, Elytair can hover, but because it can pivot …