With merchants beating the drums of commerce to lure you to their stores and web sites for holiday cheer (at least for the merchants), your editor has some alternative giving suggestions that could help bankroll the future of aviation (if not aviation futures). Each of these projects would welcome funding, and each has much to give back to all of us. Put Your Face in Space The Perlan Project has initiated a fund-raising program on Indie-Go-Go, with the immediate goal to complete construction of the major parts of Perlan II, a high-performance, high-altitude research sailplane recently featured in the New York Times. Its planned mission to 90,000 feet in the Polar Vortex could give us new and profound understanding of global climate change, the ozone hole and greenhouse gases. For a mere $15, you will, “Receive a professionally edited digital video of the entire Perlan Mission II aeronautical exploration, atmospheric science research and record breaking flights.” For another $14, you …
A Different Kind of Hybrid
In the Innovation Pavilion at Oshkosh’s AirVenture 2013, Joseph Hutterer quietly drew people in with a model and an interesting approach to a single-fuel type of hybrid. Take the twin engines off the wings and place one of them in the modified tail. Now put a small turbojet in a retracting pod in the nose. Taxi out to the end of the runway and use both engines to take off and climb, then shut the nose jet down, retract that, and cruise on the single rear engine. Hutterer, with an Aeronautical Engineering degree from the University of Minnesota, FAA commercial pilot’s license with single-engine, multi-engine, instrument and glider ratings, and 42 years of engineering and marketing experience in the general aviation industry, has the credentials and the patents to make his approach credible. Consider that aircraft such as the Solar Impulse cruise on only about 10-percent of what they need for takeoff and climb. A typical business twin doesn’t have …
Solar Impulse Makes It to New York Early
It’s hard to believe that the Solar Impulse has been on its Cross America tour since May 3, but its early touchdown at New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport late Saturday night was cause for elation on at least two counts. First, as the Solar Impulse team points out, “For the first time a plane capable of flying day and night powered exclusively by solar energy has crossed the USA from the West to the East Coasts without using a single drop of fuel.” As we love to point out, though, it’s not the first time a solar-powered airplane has made the trip. Eric Raymond did it in 21 hops in 1990 in Sunseeker 1, using the technology available at the time – which did not allow overnight flights. Both trips are literally epic voyages, nonetheless. Second, for several anxious hours the flight, the airplane and even the fate of pilot Andre’ Borschberg, Solar Impulse’s co-founder and CEO, …
What a Month This Will Have Been
With Solar Impulse descending on Washington, D. C., the Cross USA flight reached a symbolic conclusion, bringing the future to a capitol that seems resistant to even modest change, let alone radical departures from current, conventional reality. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n64tAJs_c8w With one hop to go in its journey, Solar Impulse has spread the message of what might be if we have the will to overcome the inertia brought about by our well-lobbied legislature. Andre Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard have one more opportunity to challenge the world to adopt green energy when Solar Impulse goes to New York City. Monday, they met with Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, with whom they participated in an energy roundtable and news conference about the technology that made their flight possible. Doubtless, they shared their mission’s primary object, furthering the global “Clean Generation” initiative – “a movement of likeminded people ready for change; ready for greater investment in technological innovation for a cleaner future.” As the partners explain …
Sunseeker Duo Shows Completed Form at Friedrichshafen, Moves to Italy
Erik Raymond is moving his shop and Sunseeker Duo project to Voghera, Italy, nestled in Northern Italy between Milan and Genoa. He showed the completed airframe at this year’s Aero Expo at Friedrichshafen, Germany and discussed, no doubt, the future of electric aviation with Axel Lange, the CEO of Lange Aviation. Lange has developed the Antares and Arcus electric motorgliders, both outstanding designs. Following the Expo’s finale, Erik and his wife Irena drove south to Italy, where their enterprise will complete work on the Duo and plan for their proposed trips in unexplored realms– all on solar power. With Solar Impulse crossing the United States (which Erik did in 1990 in Sunseeker I) and more flights planned by other participants, we might see the next few years create an intensified interest in green aviation. Erik notes that, “The solar cells used by the Duo are better than 50% more efficient than those used by Sunseeker II. While Sunseeker II is …
Solar Impulse Lifts Off on First Leg of Cross America 2013 Tour
With Bertrand Piccard at the controls, Solar Impulse completed its motor runups a few minutes before its scheduled 6:00 a. m. PDT takeoff. The project commentator in Switzerland noted that Piccard looked “a little pensive” in the minutes leading up to the historic departure from Moffett Field in Mountain View, California. The first leg of the trip involves a stepped climb – first to 5,000 feet for about two hours, then to a little over 20,000 feet until about 7:00 p. m. , when the craft will begin a stepped descent for the next several hours and arrive over Phoenix near midnight. As cars whizzed by on the nearby Highway 101 linking San Jose and San Francisco, Solar Impulse’s crew in Payerne, Switzerland called the tower at Moffet to coordinate final departure instructions. After receiving the go-ahead from Payerne, Piccard guided the airplane from the runway at about 6:12 and made an effortless climb into the dawn’s glow over the …
Solar Impulse Soars Over the Golden Gate
This photograph, by J. Revillard for the Solar Impulse project, speaks well more than a thousand words. It exemplifies the aspirations those of us feel who want to see the skies filled with quiet, efficient aircraft. If the individuals who’ve made this beautiful sight possible want to inspire others, they’ve succeed admirably. Follow the flight of Solar Impulse across America and see more pictures here.
Solar Impulse is Here
Solarimpulse.com reports, “The Boeing 747 landed at Moffett Airfield in San Francisco at 1:13 PM (UTC-8) on Thursday 21 February. HB-SIA was immediately unloaded and, in the coming days reassembly will begin.” Almost immediately, crews will assemble and test fly the already intercontinental solar-powered aircraft in preparation for a flight from the Bay Area to the East Coast. Having conquered the gap between Europe and Africa on its trip to Rabat, Morocco and on to Quarzazate, HB-SIA braved turbulence and gusting that caused it to turn back on its initial foray into the desert. Its final arrival at a gigantic solar energy plant in Morocco’s interior was a symbol of what clean energy can accomplish and a tribute to Solar Impulse’s pilots’ skills and the team’s imaginative creation. Now, the Airbus-sized vehicle is being readied for flight testing, with possible appearances at the seventh annual Electric Aircraft Symposium and its Cross America 2013 tour. HB-SIA’s recent trip from Payerne, Switzerland …
Solar Impulse on 60 Minutes
Alexandra Gindroz, Media Relations Manager for Solar Impulse, shared this late-breaking development today. “60 MINUTES recently visited Solar Impulse, the first manned solar airplane able to fly day and night without fuel. Learn about this groundbreaking project widely recognized as a 21st century adventure with a real utility in promoting technological innovation on CBS 60 MINUTES Sunday December 2nd at 7 P.M ET.” Even more exciting to alternative energy aviation followers, Solar Impulse plans on flying its airplane across the United States early next year. “In the summer of 2010, Solar Impulse successfully conducted the first ever historical 26-hour flight bringing the notion of perpetual flight closer to reality. This revolutionary airplane is much more; it is an adventure that shapes tomorrow through the power of innovation and pioneering spirit. The goal of Solar Impulse is to fly around the world with an airplane using only solar energy but before that the Swiss team is working on a new challenge: flying across America in …
The Green Speed Cup – Year Two
How economically can we fly, even with current technology? In its second year, the Green Speed Cup is an attempt to answer that question, provide some sporting competition and allow scientific research into the manner in which the greenest aircraft operate. Organizer Stemme’s newsletter explains the GSC, “Is a competition for any kind of two-seated aircraft. The target of the GSC is to fly as fast as possible while minimizing the consumption of fossil fuel energy. It is a direct comparison of technologies, machines, materials and the capabilities of the pilots. “The competition should help to find new ways and practical solutions for saving energy during powered flights. The aircraft that flies with the best ratio of fuel-consumption per distance and speed will win the competition. “The GSC also provides a database for scientific research for fuel efficient flying, done by the University of Dresden, Germany. So the GSC is challenge and fun for the pilots and a contribution to …