Borschberg, H55 Introduce BRM Energic

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

Leadership is about empowering people to make them owner of their world, and constantly challenging them to make them extend their known territory.” Andre’ Borschberg Andre’ Borschberg’s current challenge, shared with Bertrand Piccard, involves their Solar Impulse Foundation, whose goal is to foster 1,000 solutions “that protect the environment in a profitable way.”  “Profitable” helps produce results, and with Piccard being a psychiatrist, ensures the self-interest that drives many also drives a certain level of altruism in saving the environment. Borschberg and two other Solar Impulse leaders, Sébastien Demont and Gregory Blatt, founded H55 and produced a modification of the Silence Twister, a single-seat aircraft with a Siemens motor.  Their latest conversion, following their philosophy of, “Building up experience by flying existing airplanes with electric propulsion,” uses what looks like an Emrax motor in a Bristell Energic two-seat training craft. “Single Engine Dual Battery Pack System” Energic is an electric variant of a Czech Republic Light Sport Aircraft, with an …

Swiss Movements – aEro 1 and aEro 2

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

Electric Flying Inspires Bigger Plans Dufour Aerospace, based in Visp, Switzerland, and within sight of the Matterhorn, has been flying aEro 1, a Silence Twister-based electric aerobatic craft, for the last two years.  Read the pilot report on the surprising performance and the quiet flight experience in the aEro 1 to get some idea of how future flight will be a welcome relief from the noisy today’s noisy passage.  “Electric motors are so incredibly efficient. They have a huge torque and you will take off much faster than with regular engines. Our aEro 1 takes off after 70 meters of runway – at 2/3 of the available power. “The first real takeoff and flight afterwards was really mindblowing. I set the power, took off, and checked the instruments, especially the engine instruments. And checked the engine instruments again. You hear the slow roll down of the tires as they stop turning. (Have you ever heard that in a powered aircraft?) …

Another Cure for Range Anxiety

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation 2 Comments

Or at least an approach to provide angst-free cross-country flying, as Michael Friend explained in his Electric Aircraft Symposium presentation last April at Rohnert Park, California.  Friend, a Boeing engineer closely tied to the company’s early fuel cell work, is the owner and pilot of N787M, one of the earliest production kit Silence Twisters.  The Twister is a Spitfire-like, retractable-gear light aircraft capable of cruising 146 on its Jabiru 80-horsepower engine.  It’s capable of full aerobatic flight, and was converted to electric power in Germany for possible airshow demonstrations.  The Twister’s designers also plan a lengthened wing that would make motor gliding possible. Friend noted the difference in energy density between available batteries and gasoline, explaining that 10 kilograms of gasoline (22 pounds – or about 3.75 gallons) had the energy of 450 kilograms (990 pounds) of lithium batteries.  The gasoline cost $10 (April prices) while the battery pack cost $36,000.  Despite the fact that the batteries will run through …