Tecnalia Aerotaxi Levels with Reasonable Goals

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

Tecnalia, a Spanish technology and engineering firm, presented its Aerotaxi at the Paris Air Show this year.  The company demonstrates a way to make automated flight a little less perturbing to the anxious public, keeping the platform on the straight and level during all phases of flight.  It does this with four gimbaled sets of four propellers, which do all the pivoting and changes of angle while leaving the passenger compartment in a constant plane.  This should do a great deal to calm the reluctant flyer. Tecnalia adds, “Joseba Lasa, one of the people responsible for the development, explained that “the main novelty of Tecnalia’s aircraft lies in the fact that the architecture allows the cabin to maintain its orientation regardless of speed, a clear advantage over conventional drones and current ‘air taxi’ applications. This feature enhances the flying experience, providing a sensation similar to that of travelling by car or bus from a dynamic point of view.” Aerotaxi has …

Academy Award Winner, Legion of Honor Recipient Conquer the Channel

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Anne Lavrand, head of Electravia, shared this news in her blog this morning. Following its initial flight at the Coupe Icare in 2011, the electric airship Iris Challenger was slated to make a cross-English Channel attempt later that year. Unfortunately, prevailing winds prevailed against that November attempt between Dover and Calais. Patience and careful planning finally paid off for pilots Pierre Chabert and Gerard Feldzer, though, and today, they made the crossing from France to Dymchurch, England in two hours and 23 minutes. Built by Airstar (Chabert is founder and president/CEO of the company), the envelope contains 568 cubic meters (20,059 cubic feet) of helium, and can carry a payload of 200 kilograms (440 pounds). Equipped with two electric motors of seven kilowatts (9.38 horsepower) each, and two counter-rotating 1.3 meter (51.1875 inch) propellers made by E-Props, the 14 meter (46 feet), six meter high envelope navigates at a cruising speed of 15 kilometer per hour (9.3 mph). Its lithium …

EADS’ Electrifying Threesome at Paris Air Show

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation 1 Comment

EADS (European Aerospace Defense Systems), known colloquially as Airbus, highlighted its Paris Air Show chalet at Le Bourget with three  examples of the work from its Innovations Workshops. All projects are part of the European Commission’s “Flightpath 2050” initiative, conceived to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions 75 percent, nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions 90 percent and noise  65 percent from 2000 levels by 2050. EADS thinks electric and hybrid propulsion could become an alternative to fossil fuels within that timeline, with several projects highlighting, “the willingness of EADS to invest in technologies that today, tomorrow, will further reduce emissions of carbon dioxide from aviation.” E-FAN Working with Aero Composites Saintonge (ACS), the IW Research and Technology Group has developed and built the trainer all-electric “E-Fan” dedicated to general aviation.  Created in only eight months, this jet-like machine makes use of sailplane design and ultralight-type composite construction to house its two electric motors and two 65-kilogram battery packs in its wings.  Motors appear …

Big Frog Diesel Racer – A Different Kind of Green

Dean Sigler Diesel Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation 2 Comments

There are only 10 Nemesis NXT racers in the world, and one happens to be in France, getting tuned up to compete in this year’s Reno Air Races in about 10 weeks.  On display last month at the Paris Air Show, the lightweight, carbon-fiber racer lacked the usual Lycoming IO-540 engine, a six-cylinder powerplant that cruises the 1,500 pound two-seater at 325 miles per hour. Aviation International News Online’s Olivia Saucier reported, “The Big Frog racer is getting attention for more than just its tongue-in-cheek patriotic name. The French aircraft is the first carbon-fiber race plane to run on a Diesel engine powered purely by jet-A fuel. And it is turning heads here at the Le Bourget show. “Big Frog is the brainchild of three pilots–Frank Doyen, Mario Soave and Willy Gruhier – who dreamed up the project in 2005. They wanted to prove that a high-performance aircraft with a Diesel engine could win the prestigious Reno National Championship Air …

Electravia, Cri-Cri Set Speed Record at Paris Air Show

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Anne Lavrand of Electravia in Grenoble, France, shares this exciting news from the Paris Air Show today. “A new speed world record for electric aircraft : 283 km/h ! (175.46 mph) “Hugues Duval holds the world speed record for an electrically powered aircraft after reaching the top speed of 283 km/h during his presentation flight today in the 49th Paris Air Show (Saturday 25th of June, 2011). “This electric Cri-Cri is powered by two electric propulsion systems ELECTRAVIA (35 HP each), two special high-speed propellers E-PROPS and 3 kWh of KOKAM Lithium-Polymer batteries (24 kg). “This flight has shown to key actors of [the] aeronautics world present at [the] Paris Air Show 2011 that electric engines are a real alternative way of propulsion.” Coming from the light aircraft, rather than the Airbus world, the flight affirms that inventive small firms have an opportunity to show the way in this exciting new technology.   For a French TV news highlight of the …

Solar Impulse Preparing for Paris Air Show

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

To prepare Solar Impulse and its pilots for the upcoming airshow season, André Borschberg and other members of the flight team completed a series of tests to enable precise flying, particularly around the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget. “We are preparing for these trips beforehand because they are very complex operations, from both a logistical point of view and purely in terms of flying”, Borschberg explained following his three-hour flight on April 18. Solar Impulse will be the “special guest” at the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget from June 20 through 26. This last week’s tests were designed, according to acting flight test director Ralph Paul, with “two objectives…: to adopt the Bourget configuration and increase the flight envelope by doing stickraps.” As the project’s blog explains, “The solar airplane made three simulations closely modeled on the choreography to be adopted for the presentation flights in Paris…. Initially, the pilot climbed to an altitude of 1000 feet (a …

Smallest Four-Motor Electric Plane Flies

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

For a company that employs over 119,000 and has annual revenues approaching 43 billion Euros ($55 billion), the Cri-Cri (Cricket) seems a minuscule part of their enterprise, but garners a huge share of publicity.  Reporters and photographers flocked to Le Bourget field near Paris on September 2 to record the first flight of the petite creation.  The EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company N.V.)  press release explains the excitement.   The all electric Cri-Cri, jointly developed by EADS Innovation Works, Aero Composites Saintonge and the Green Cri-Cri Association has made its official maiden flight at Le Bourget airport near Paris on Thursday. This Cri-Cri is the first-ever four-engined all-electric aerobatic plane. The event has been supported by the French Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace. The plane became airborne at 11:12 CET. Take-off and climb were smooth, no vibrations could be felt and manoeuvrability was excellent. All systems performed well and the plane returned safely after 7 minutes. “This aircraft …