From Anime to Low-Powered Electric Flight

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Solar Power, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

A team in Japan has flown a low-power electric canard motorglider, and is now building a more conventional, lightweight electric aircraft.  Members of Aircraft Olympos Ltd. on the large island of Hokaido have been instrumental in building and flying everything from a jet inspired by one of Hayoa Miyazaki’s anime productions (Nausicaa (Dove) Of The Valley Of The Wind – 1984) to some fascinating electric aircraft. Brian Carpenter met Tota Ueno, a worker on the project, and visitor at one of Brian’s maintenance classes in Corning, California.  Brian was selected by the National General Aviation Awards Committee as the recipient of the 2017 National Aviation Maintenance Technician (AMT) of the Year Award.  His classes in ultralight aircraft maintenance and two-stroke engine repair and maintenance obviously draw a worldwide audience. Beyond that, he has been developing the EMG-6 ultralight, which can be powered by traditional two-stroke engines or one or more electric motors.  He’s been testing a series of motors and …

MGM Compro Enjoys Good News in Europe and at Oshkosh

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

MGM Compro is a Czech company that seems to have a motor on half of every light electric airplane flying today.  Their motors have powered Airbus’s electric Cri-Cri (four 15-kilowatt units), the firm’s e-Fan, Ruppert Composite’s Archaeopteryx, e-Volo’s Volocopter, and any number of motorgliders and light sport aircraft buzzing quietly over Europe, and soon, America. Certification in Europe Certification is usually the route to wide acceptance of a new motor, proof that the unit has passed some rigorous tests and is suited for use in aircraft.  As Martin Dvorsky, Managing Director for the firm reports: We are really proud to announce that [the] MGM COMPRO complex propulsion unit just obtained [a] CERTIFICATE OF AIRWORTHINESS issued by [the] Slovak Federation of Ultra Light Aircraft. This certificate means that the glider and its system has positively passed all the safety and flight tests and can be legally operated by LSZ license holder (UL license counterpart).” Note the clever motor and propeller folding and retraction …

What We’re Looking Forward to at AirVenture 2017

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

We’re looking forward to seeing progress in electric aircraft, and this year may be an opportunity to see real breakthroughs. Two from Pipistrel Besides its regular lineup of high-quality aircraft, Pipistel will have two Alpha Electro trainers on display in their display area.  This is the first time these aircraft will be seen in America, and they’ll be at the right of AirVenture’s main entrance gate in sites 86 and 87. In the Ultralight Area Mark Beierle will display and fly Bravo, Richard Steeves’ e-Gull.  This red, white and blue gem features a power system made from Zero Motorcycle components and boasts an impressive rate of climb and exceptional short field capabilities. Another ultralight, the EMG-6 developed over the last few years by Brian Carpenter of Rainbow Aviation/Adventure Aircraft, will show off the REX 30 MGM-Compro motor from the Czech Republic.  The units, with their matching controllers, power dozen of different types of aircraft in Europe, from paramotors to Light …

A 24-Volt Airplane Motor?

Dean Sigler Batteries, Biofuels, Electric Powerplants, Hybrid Aircraft, Sustainable Aviation 2 Comments

One of the big surprises in last month’s webinar hosted by the EAA and presented by Brian Carpenter of Rainbow Aviation Services/Adventure Aviation was the 24-Volt motor being developed for the EMG-6 ultralight motorglider. High and Low Voltages Many, if not most of the electric motors flying on existing craft are higher voltage units.  For sake of an off-handed definition, we’ll divide low and high at below and above 50 Volts, something OSHA delineates in its regulation 29 CFR 1910.303(g)(2)(i), which “generally requires “’live parts of electric equipment operating at 50 volts or more’ to be ‘guarded against accidental contact by use of approved cabinets or other forms of approved enclosures’ or by other specified means.”  In its explanation, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration “considers all voltages of 50 volts or above to be hazardous. Electric current, not voltage, passing through the human body causes injury….” And it really doesn’t take much amperage to take a person to the …

Brian Carpenter’s EMG-6 Webinar

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

Brian Carpenter, designer of the EMG-6 motorglider which he’s shown over the last several years at AirVenture, will stage a webinar to discuss “the design and development concepts of this new electric motorglider.”  His talk will have special “Emphasis on the integration of the electric propulsion concepts that he believes will change the face of the light aircraft and ultralight industry.” Your editor has visited Brian’s Corning, California workshop several times, and always found new and innovative approaches to producing a low-cost, self-launching motorglider, with several ways to simplify construction and to power the craft.  It will be interesting to see progress on the newest motor (apparently still under development) Brian has presented on his web site. He has been experimenting with low-budget hydroforming for making repeated metal parts and making plastic parts using 3-D printers.  His shop is always worth seeing. The webinar, to be held Wednesday, October 19, 2016 will take place from 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM …

Controversial at CES 2016

Dean Sigler Electric Aircraft Components, Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Making a lot of column inches of traditional newsprint and reigning as clickbait on the Internet, the Ehang 184 is an eye-catching Autonomous Aerial Vehicle (AAV) causing a bit of controversy in the media.  Unveiled at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2016), it drew concentric circles of photographers who normally save their enthusiasm for the lovely models showing off the newest iPhone or PlayStation. Coming from a firm that already makes hobby drones, the 184 (one passenger, eight motors, four arms) can carry its trusting passenger up to 20 miles, depending on who’s reporting.  Its 14.4 kilowatt-hour battery pack allows a maximum of 23 minutes of flight, and at 60 mph, a quick hop to a nearby destination, which Ehang describes as short to medium-range flight. Cnet.com considers licensing.  “Ehang said that it’s working with multiple governments around the world and that no pilot’s license will be required to use the 184 AAV. Passengers navigate by tapping a destination …

Two Ultralights Promoting Electric Power

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Several electric aircraft graced the flight lines and display tents at Oshkosh this year, while several that had flown in previous years stayed home.  It shows a growing market segment – one apt to continue growing as batteries and components improve.  The ultralight area showed the greatest number of new developments, with two aircraft showing how one might achieve battery-powered flight on a budget. Chip Erwin and the Aviad MG-12 Zigolo Several have noted the Aviad MG-12 “ Zigolo” (named after a small bird – not as some surmise, a “gigolo”) from Italy has the look of a Mike Sandlin Basic Ultralight Glider, although it also has elements of other early Part 103 machines and carries a complete aircraft kit price of $14,500.  “Complete” includes a two-stroke, single cylinder Vittorazi Moster 185-cc engine.  $1,500 adds a more advanced BRS ballistic recovery parachute, and another $1,500 nets a more complete, more quickly finished kit.  Aviad claims the basic kit takes only …

The Really Incredible H. U. L. C.

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

One of the things that attracted your editor to the idea of electric flight was the introduction of powerful little permanent magnet motors in model airplanes.  With people like Jean-Luc Soullier and Brian Carpenter having used or exploring the use of model aircraft motors on their small, but people-carrying aircraft, we know that flight with these little marvels is possible. But nothing prepares one to take in the flight of an attractive (human) model carried aloft by two H. U. L. C. (Heavy Ultra Lift Crane) model helicopters. According to The Blaze, “’This is the first time in the world that a human person is being lifted by a remote-controlled aircraft,’ said Tobias Wagner, Heligraphix and H.U.L.C. pilot.” “The team used upgraded Gaui X7 ‘megatron’ helicopters outfitted with some seriously heavy-duty components, to give each of the two model helicopters 10 kW of constant power, Wagner said.” The team had performed an earlier, single helicopter lift with their eyes on …

EAS VIII – A Day and a Half You’ll Never Forget

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Who would pass up a chance to stay at a nice resort, attend lectures that challenge and inspire, and meet at poolside with speakers who bring some of the sharpest minds in the world to bear on some of the biggest problems we all face?  Let’s face it.  Global warming probably won’t be going away anytime soon, and aviation seems destined to play a bigger part in polluting our otherwise near-perfect atmosphere. Unless…we learn how to make our favorite activity (in the top five for most of us, anyway), into a more responsible way to travel and recreate.  Since solving the problems which go with that responsibility will involve the best in aerodynamics, power systems and new, efficient technology, the CAFE Foundation has invited experts in these fields with demonstrated successes in meeting such challenges. To be held April 25 and 26, 2014 at the Flamingo Resort in Santa Rosa, California, the event will host speakers on everything from practical, …

EMG-6 Takes First Hops

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation 1 Comment

Brian Carpenter of Adventure Aircraft Inc. (part of his Rainbow Aviation Company) must trust his engineering, since he acted as his own test pilot for the first flights of his EMG-6 ultralight glider, a craft with options of mounting one, two, three (or even four, as Brian suggests) electric motors.  As an ultralight motor glider it can carry a pilot, ballistic parachute, and a small powerpack with one motor, controller and batteries.  Depending on the pilot’s weight, the airplane might be able to self launch and reach soaring altitude, or for heavier payloads, use the motor as a sustainer unit after a ground or aircraft tow to seek out distant thermals. While waiting for this next development, look at the number three test flight, towed from the runway by a “quad” all-terrain vehicle (ATV) and on landing demonstrating a remarkably short landing roll into only a 9-mph wind. Currently favored, the Plettenberg Predator motor and a Schulze 400-Amp motor controller …