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 …

EMG-6 Progress

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation 5 Comments

Your editor has been on a road trip for several days, visiting the great Motel 6’s of California, and incidentally dropping in at Corning, California to stock up on olives and meet with Brian Carpenter, head of Rainbow Aviation.  He holds forth there as dealer for the full line of Quicksilver ultralight aircraft, does flight training, and with his wife Carol, presents training classes on repairing ultralight, light sport, weight shift, and even powered parachute type aircraft.  The pair has written several books on these topics. Brian recently teamed with Quicksilver to manufacture a kit aircraft that will eventually include one or more electric motors for propulsion.  With many ingenious features and a low introductory price, the all-metal airplane could become an introductory trainer for novice ultralight pilots.  He and Quicksilver held a joint press conference at Airventure 2013 to announce the new machine. Fitting easily into ultralight weight requirements, even with a motor and batteries, the EMG-6 (electric motor …

Plettenberg’s New Motors – Ready for Real Airplanes?

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation 5 Comments

Plettenberg is well known in the model airplane world for its large and powerful electric motors that pull or push giant-scale models – sometimes half the size of their real counterparts – into the air.  Brian Carpenter of Rainbow Aviation is even using them on his EMG-5 and EMG-6 ultralight aircraft.  Jean-Luc Soullier had two of them on an electric Cri-Cri.  His forum details that adventure and subsequent projects.  These Predator motors weigh a little over four pounds and can put out 15 horsepower and up to 99 pounds of thrust with the right propeller. Going beyond their model motors, Plettenberg has bold thoughts to share about its new, bigger and less model-like units, including their 150 kilowatt Nova series motor. “The guiding principle for the development of the Nova series was the creation and development of a completely new product and not the development of existing systems. “Combining intelligently selected materials and components together with innovative, ground-breaking geometries made …