Anime, Electric Flight and Solar Airplanes

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation 1 Comment

A Japanese entrepreneur and Salesian Polytechnic, a school near Tokyo, Japan are testing an ultralight glider with hopes of achieving solar-powered flight by early next year. Akira Yon-Ko is President of Olympos Limited, devoted to the “development of small aircraft, production and sale of technical support lectures various development projects, lectures, etc.” He has crafted several airplanes, including a Graham Lee Circa Reproductions WW-I Nieuport-11 replica for which he provided technical assistance, but go on to include an anime-inspired bird-like creation to two electric aircraft, one of which may become Japan’s first solar-powered airplane. Yon-Ko’s work with The OpenSky M-02 jet-powered glider was inspired, as explained in Wikipedia, ”by the Möwe aircraft flown by the protagonist in the Hayao Miyazaki anime, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.” It’s shown below in jet mode, attempting high-speed taxis, but seemingly a bit unstable. As Yon-Ko explains, “Currently, the work of Mr. Kazuhiko Hachiya, [the] M-02 is housed in the 21st Century …