Honeywell and Safran have teamed up to create EGTS International, a company that makes Electric Green Taxiing Systems for airliners. Honeywell has extensive experience with auxiliary power systems and Safran makes “world-class landing gear systems.” Put them together and you have the self-powered landing gear which made its public debut at the Paris Air Show this week. Others have been working on the same type of system, but EGTS is the first to show the technology off at an air show. Besides making the display Airbus A320 one of the quietest airplanes moving across the tarmac at the show, the system could save airlines up to four percent per flight on fuel burn. As the EGTS web site explains, “Because an aircraft’s main engines are optimized for flying rather than taxiing, they burn a disproportionate amount of fuel during ground operations. With a short- or medium-range aircraft spending up to 2.5 hours of its time on taxiways every day, …
The Little Firefly That Could
This little airplane is the fastest in its category in the world, unofficially. Flying from Koksijde, Belgium’s military airport, it clocked 189.87 kilometers per hour (117.7 mph) over a 15-kilometer straight-line course, a big improvement over its official speed record set on February 27 of this year. It also holds the official altitude and distance record in its class. Designed by Michel Colomban, one of the engineers for the Concorde, the MC-30 Luciole (Firefly) has a structure weighing only 98 pounds, ideal for adding heavy battery packs as part of its electrification. Its Lynch-type motor, controller and batteries were supplied by Anne Lavrand at Electravia, and have flown in the MC-30 for over a year. These are similar to the motors used in the MC-15 Cri-Cri that Hugues Duval flew at 175 mph down the main runway at Le Bourget during last year’s Paris Air Show. Jean-Luc Soullier, the pilot and founder of Luxembourg Spécial Aerotechnics, shared these pictures with the Federation …
A Different Kind of Hybrid Aircraft
A father and son team have done amazing things with the Colomban MC-15 Cri-Cri: Hugues Duval, the son setting a world speed record at last year’s Paris Air Show, and Yves, the father, resurrecting a decade-old airshow act. At an airshow in Gergy-Pontoise, France this year, according to Anne Lavrand, head of Electravia and motor supplier to the little electric speedster, “Spectators were able to admire the return of the famous Shuttle Bretonne,” a Broussard liaison aircraft carrying the Cristalline Cri-Cri aloft. Anne Lavrand explains, “At the end of the 90s, Yves Duval, Hughes’ father, presented in airshows the “Breton Shuttle”: a Broussard with a small Cri-Cri on its top for the take-off, then… during flight, Cri-Cri takes off from the Broussard and flies by its side. At that time, both aircraft were sponsored by the company Brittany Ferries. The installation of Cri-Cri on the Broussard required some means of lifting:” “In 2000, the Cri-Cri was equipped with single-cylinder gasoline-fueled, two-stroke …
Chip Yates Becomes World’s Fastest Person in an Electric Airplane
On July 19 at Inyokern Airport in California, Chip Yates and his Long-ESA electric airplane set an unofficial world’s speed record for battery-powered flight, hitting 202.6 mph just before a dead cell in the battery pack forced an emergency landing. It was the airplane’s second test flight. Following a day of taxi tests, Chip, who has been taking flying lessons and recently achieved his Private Pilot’s license, set out to see how fast his 258-horsepower mount could go. He has become the first person to break the 200 mph barrier for electric aircraft in level flight, beating the previous record by Hugues Duval at last year’s Paris Air Show in an Electravia-powered Cri-Cri. Duval managed to hit 175 mph on his run over the main runway at Le Bourget Airport. The same UQM motor in the Rutan-derived airplane powered his road-racing motorcycle last year, enabling him to hit over 200 mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats and to set a …
Big Frog Diesel Racer – A Different Kind of Green
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
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 …
EADS Pulls Off Electric Hat Trick at 2011 Paris Air Show
At the 2011 Paris Air Show at Le Bourget this week, the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company N.V. (EADS) showcased at least three electric flight vehicles – two emonstrating current reality and one pointing toward a cleaner future for short-to-medium range airliners. Cri-Cri, the four-motored, contra-rotating props on stalks aerobatic wonder, did indeed perform at the 2011 Paris Air Show, doing six-minute routines daily at the show. Didier Esteyne, the plane’s obviously accomplished pilot, explains things in this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76h4VA3yoNI Emmanuel Joubert, Program Head for the All-electric Cri-Cri at EADS, explained the plane’s advantages. “In all-electric mode, the plane’s performance during climb and aerobatics is better compared to a conventional aircraft of this type. This allows the pilot to really have ‘fun flying’ – with no noise and high torque at low and high speed.” Because of the light weight and small size of the Cri-Cri, initial flights were limited to 20 minutes, but now run 30 minutes, with …
Solar Impulse Inspires in Brussels, Heads to Paris
On June 14, 2011, Andre’ Borschberg guided the giant Solar Impulse from Brussels, Belgium, where the craft had spent the last week as the centerpiece of discussions on green energy and the future of transportation in the European Community, to Le Bourget Field just outside Paris. Nearing its destination, its daylong flight sometimes resembled the mathematical problem called, “the drunkard’s walk,” as Borschberg was vectored around the aerial neighborhoods surrounding Paris to make certain the lightly loaded craft did not run afoul of jetliners’ wakes and could find a slot where the runway did not present residual turbulence. During the preceding week, VIPs from the European Community gathered aound the airplane in Brussels to discuss the importance of this airplane and these flights. Their “Green Week” discussions evinced talk of necessity and sprouted bits of inspiration. Viviane Reding, a Vice- President of the European Union and Commissioner on Climate Change, among other responsibilities, said the “event is emblematic” of what European research, humans, …
Solar Impulse Flies Over Four Countries on First International Flight
Supporters of the Solar Impulse gathered to celebrate the giant solar-powered airplane’s landing in Brussels, Belgium today after the craft had crossed Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, and Belgium in its 630 kilometer (340 nautical mile), 12 hour, 59 minute flight. André Borschberg, CEO and co-founder of the project, flew the mission, starting 8:30 a.m. Payerne, Switzerland time and took the leisurely flight over some of the most scenic landscapes in Europe, with an average speed of 50 kilometers per hour (27 mph – one mile per hour under the stall speed of US ultralights). He had time to enjoy the view from his average cruising altitude of 1,828 meters (6,000 feet). Borschberg explained, “It’s a spectacular flight. The takeoff was a little challenging because we had to rush due to air traffic activity consequently I needed a little bit of time to get everything in order before I could become serene. It was [a] little bit [of a] northeast wind during …
- Page 2 of 2
- 1
- 2