Embraer’s Energia Family

Dean Sigler Announcements, Electric Powerplants, Fuel Cells, Hybrid Aircraft, Hydrogen Fuel, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Coming up with a new airplane is a daunting task – but Embraer announced four new designs this week.  Ranging from nine to fifty passengers, Embraer’s Energia family are all electric or clean fuel redefinitions of regional air travel.  Luis Carlos Alfonso, Senior VP of Engineering, Technology Development and Corporate Strategy presented them in front of a socially-distanced crowd in Brazil. The presentation, which sent virtual representations of the four craft flying out into the crowd, took place to coincide with COP26 (the Congress of Parties) being held in Glasgow, Scotland.  Its choices of pure electric, hybrid-electric, hydrogen-electric, and in its 50-passenger model, hydrogen or SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel) driving turbine engines are all moving toward a “net-zero” goal. Two for Nine The two nine-passenger airplanes vary considerably.  One is high-wing, with a pair of vertical tail-mounted motors driving contra-rotating propellers in full-electric mode.  The other is a low-wing type, with twin electric motors on the rear flanks of the …

Craft Aero’s 16 Motors and Diamond Wings

Dean Sigler Announcements, Electric Powerplants, Hybrid Aircraft, Sky Taxis, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Craft Aero, yet another newcomer in the electric Vertical Take Off and Landing (eVTOL) market, brings a novel 16 motor, diamond wing design to regional aviation. Laurie Foti writing for Tech Crunch, thinks, “Air taxis may still be pie in the sky,” but acknowledges Craft Aerospace for aiming to move the air travel industry forward, “with a totally new vertical takeoff and landing aircraft that it believes could make city-to-city hops simpler, faster, cheaper and greener.” She credits Craft for its “new” method of deflecting airflow downward to gain vertical takeoffs, something qualified by company co-founder James Dorris.  He notes that, “Our tech is a combination of both existing and novel tech.  The box wing has been built and flown; the high flap aircraft has been built and flown. They’ve never been synthesized like this in a VTOL aircraft.” Claiming to cut regional flight times in half, Dorris explains the time savings possible.  “Anyone that’s ever had to take a …

Ampaire Flies in the UK

Dean Sigler Batteries, Electric Powerplants, Hybrid Aircraft, Sky Taxis, Sustainable Aviation, Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Having completed a series of successful island-hopping flights in Hawaii, and in Scotland, Ampaire is now in Exeter, England taking part in a government-backed program, “Aimed at moving the UK towards green aviation.”  Test Pilot Eliot Seguin has moved from his Mojave, California base to take part in the endeavor, joined by fellow test pilot Justin Gillen. Drawing a Crowd A large contingent of dignitaries attended the inaugural takeoff of Ampaire’s electric EEL, their modified Cessna 337 Skymaster.  These included Baron Martin Callanan, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Minister for Business, Energy and Corporate Responsibility at the Department for Business, Energy and Industry Strategy. He shared a realistic appraisal of the new technology.  “Nobody is pretending we will be flying over the Atlantic any time soon but for short hops between two regional airports this is absolutely ideal.” Susan Ying,  Senior Vice President of Global Partnerships and recently seen on the PBS program “The Great Electric Airplane Race,” said …

Nine Engines and Two Wings – the DEP Antonov

Dean Sigler Diesel Powerplants, Electric Powerplants, Hybrid Aircraft, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Sporting no less than nine powerplants, eight of which are electric, a cold-war biplane stunned the crowd at a Russian air show.  Part of the 15th International Aviation and Space Salon MAKS 2021 held on July 20-25, a Siberian adaptation of a Russian classic drew widespread attention.  Your editor has had the privilege of enjoying two flights in the original giant AN-2 biplane powered by a Schwezow ASch-62IR nine-cylinder radial engine with 1000 horsepower.  That engine sounded like a freight train grumbling through the valley over which we flew.  This new version has a 1,100 shaft horsepower Honeywell turbine in the nose and eight motors with folding propellers arrayed along the lower wing.  The sound is futuristic, while the airframe is anachronistic. Electric-Flight.eu headlines its coverage with, “Russians impress with blown-lift technology on old double-deckers.”  Think of an imposing biplane standing almost 14 feet tall, carrying a total wing area of 71.52 square meters (769.8 square feet) and hauling 12 …

VoltAero Demonstrates Quiet Flight

Dean Sigler Batteries, Electric Powerplants, Hybrid Aircraft, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

At least two Cessna 337s are flying on modified power systems – one with Ampaire in various locations around the world and one in France.  VoltAero’s French Cessna push-pull twin has been turned into a tri-motor, with twin motors sprouting from the front of the craft’s tail booms.  Like its American counterpart, VoltAero’s machine is a test bed for the planned power system that will mark its successor.  VoltAero reveals its coming aircraft will feature a “barrel”-type arrangement of three 60 kilowatt electric motors ringing a central internal-combustion (thermal) engine.  Jean Botti, CEO of VoltAero, explains the motor configuration is well-proven, having flown in the Cassio 1 demonstrator (the Cessna) since October last year.  Since then, it’s been flown around a series of airports in France, racking up over 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) in 10 hops visiting 11 cities. Later versions of the Cassio design will feature the 330 kW hybrid arrangement of Cassio 1, producing 442 horsepower.  Later versions …

Two Similar eSTOLs

Dean Sigler Announcements, Batteries, Electric Powerplants, Hybrid Aircraft, Sky Taxis, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Two different but very similar electric Short Take Off and Landing (eSTOL) aircraft from two different companies are making progress toward realization.  Both are products of teams originally committed to electric Vertical Take Off and Landing (eVTOL) designs, so the shift to different configurations is of interest.  eVTOLs are limited in range by the need to lift their entire weight on their rotors – some for the totality of the flight.  eSTOLs use aerodynamics to enable longer range, and with high-lift devices, can use small fields from which to operate. Dr. Brien Seeley, head of the Sustainable Aviation Foundation, has been a long-time proponent of what he called “pocket airparks.”  These neighborhood or urban sites would be contained within roughly one-block perimeters, use aircraft capable of extremely short takeoffs and landings, low noise, and quick turnarounds.  Electric aircraft and their quiet operation would allow placing such airparks in more areas and could make access to air travel as common as …

The Media Are Finally Catching On

Dean Sigler Announcements, Batteries, Electric Powerplants, Hybrid Aircraft, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

The media are catching on.  CBS News this morning and Public Broadcasting next week are presenting reports on electric aircraft.  Your editor became aware of CBS’s report this morning at 3:00 a. m., being awakened after falling asleep earlier mid-joke during Stephen Colbert’s show.  It was a pleasant way to face the day. CBS explains, “Of all the major industries that spew out planet-warming greenhouse gasses, one stands out as unfixable – so far. Fossil fuel power plants can be replaced with wind and solar power. One can switch to electric cars. But as Mark Phillips reports from the British Aviation History Museum for the ‘CBS This Morning’ series Eye on Earth, the one thing aircraft have had in common down through the ages is aviation fuel. A commercially viable electric airplane cannot yet be made, aviation fuel is too powerful to replace with batteries.”  The tone seemed somewhat negative, even though the report showed several examples of electric aircraft …

That’s the eSpirit!

Dean Sigler Batteries, Electric Powerplants, GFC, Hybrid Aircraft, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

We reported in the blog four years ago that Embry Riddle Aeronautical University not only displayed their eSpirit of St. Louis at AirVenture that year, but ran the motor for the crowd.  The crowd included Federal Aviation Administrator Michael Huerta, who sat in the cockpit during the runup. The eSpirit of St. Louis A product of Embry-Riddle, eSpirit is finally making its presence on the taxiway known.  Kelly Pratt, writing in the Embry Riddle Aeronautical News, reports, “After nearly four years of perseverance, the Eagle Flight Research Center (EFRC) team at Embry-Riddle is celebrating a milestone in its electric propulsion research: its Diamond HK-36 completed a successful taxi test exclusively on electrical power at the Daytona Beach International Airport.” Erik Lindbergh, grandson of Charles, has been a guiding factor in eSpirit’s development, and the airplane reflects his grandfather’s “notion of balance between aviation and the environment.” The quarter-mile on the taxiway may seem like a short trip, but student Sanay …

Pipistrel’s Triple Alliance Will Fly High in China

Dean Sigler Announcements, Electric Powerplants, Hybrid Aircraft, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Pipistrel’s triple alliance with SF Express, a Chinese package delivery enterprise, and Amazilia, a software/hardware firm in Germany, will help fulfill high-flying ambitions.  Pipistrel, a well-established company with its roots in Slovenia, already has affiliates in Italy, China, and the USA.  Now, its partnership with SF Express and  Amazilia has obvious links to the need to keep things on track in transporting people and cargo with the new eVTOLs (electric Vertical Take Off and Landing) vehicles Pipistrel is developing.  SF Express is a huge “logistics” firm, delivering packages throughout all of China.  “Amazilia Aerospace is a young engineering company in the heart of Munich, Germany, developing digital flight control, flight guidance, and vehicle management systems for civil manned and unmanned aircraft.” Pipistrel is crafting a “heavy cargo hybrid VTOL drone” for SF Express, capable of taking products anywhere in China within 36 hours – a significant challenge in such a huge country.  It needs to be able to climb over …

Two Wood Aircraft Leading to the Future

Dean Sigler Announcements, Batteries, Diesel Powerplants, Electric Powerplants, Hybrid Aircraft, Hydrogen Fuel, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Two French manufacturers are reverting to bois et toile (wood and fabric) for ultra-modern aircraft.  Both of their aircraft will be electrically powered, and both will use non-traditional approaches to construction.  In the meantime, both have fairly traditional demonstration models. The French have done wonders with wooden aircraft from the very beginning of aviation.  Santos Dumont built the petite Demoiselle with bamboo longerons, for instance, and Henri Mignet crafted his diminutive Pou du Ciel (flea of the sky, or flying flea) from available wood.  After World War Two, Messrs Joly and Delemontez fashioned a small single-seater, the Jodel D-9, from wood and ply and powered it with converted VW Kubelwagen engines, Jeep-like German vehicles which littered scrap yards and former battlefields.  Avions Mauboussin and Aura Aero use more modern power systems and vastly different approaches to bois and toile structures. Mauboussin Mauboussin goes back to prewar times with small aircraft that look as though they could have come from a …