APUS Rolls Out Its i-2

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, hydrogen, Hydrogen Fuel Leave a Comment

A Grand Roll-Out APUS, the thirteen-year-old German aircraft firm specializing in design, maintenance, and repair, rolled out its i-2, a hydrogen-powered, twin electric motor craft filled with innovative ideas.  300 invited guests attended the sunny ceremony, presided over by Brandenburg’s Minister of Economic Affairs Prof. Dr. Jörg Steinbach, together with APUS CEO Phillip Scheffel. Scheffel spoke to the crowd, explaining how much his team contributed to the firm’s accomplishment.  “Without the great work and dedication of our team, this success would never have been possible. Together we have redefined the boundaries of modern aviation.” Your editor had the pleasure of interviewing Scheffel and his compatriots Laurent Altenberger and Dipl.-Ing. Robert Adam last year.  The discussion led to a blog entry as the group was beginning development of the i-2, and highlighted some of the boundaries Scheffel speaks of redefining. One boundary was the weight penalty traditionally imposed in using hydrogen as a fuel source.  Scheffel has an approach that addresses …

GoAero Prize – Saving the World?

Dean Sigler Announcements, Electric Aircraft Components, Electric Aircraft Materials, Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

The GoAero Prize is a $2,000,000 chance to save the world – literally.  A three-year search for solutions to the environmental disasters devastating our planet, the GoAero (Aerial Emergency Response Operations) Prize will go to the team creating an automated flight vehicle that can overcome formidable challenges. Gwen Lighter is a veteran of such challenges, having created the earlier GoFly Prize that concentrated on merely getting a single pilot off the ground safely.  Successful finalists spent three years reaching the “playoffs.” This Next Three-Years’ Challenge On the surface, the challenge sounds straightforward enough: “Design and build a safe, portable, robust, autonomy-enabled Emergency Response Flyer.” Beneath that simple mission statement, things are significantly more difficult, requiring a vehicle to reach a disaster scene and perform a necessary mission.  The craft should be able to demonstrate three main characteristics, being: Productive: Deploy on site and keep working day-in and day-out, reliably and efficiently. Versatile: All-theater, multi-environment, and robust so the important jobs …

Heart Aerospace and Its ES-30 – Heartier

Dean Sigler Announcements, Batteries, Electric Powerplants, Hybrid Aircraft, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Heart Aerospace has rolled out its ES-30, a larger, more capacious version of the original ES-19.  As the two designations suggest, the earlier ES-19 was to hold 19 passengers while the ES-30 will haul 30.  The expanded size and capability are understandable.  The crew required to carry 19 can fly 30 just as easily, with lower costs per passenger – of vital interest to regional carriers. Heart Aerospace, founded in 2019, has accomplished a lot in five years.  Anders and Klara Forslund co-founded the firm with, “The aim of electrifying short-haul regional aviation.”  They express this in their mission statement.  “Heart Aerospace has a clear mission. We work to decarbonize and democratize air travel. We believe in electrification. Not only to bring down emissions and build a sustainable future, but to make flying accessible for the many, around the world.” This 2022 introduction of the ES-30 shows the formidable range of companies willing to invest in this new technology and …

Two Electric Approaches to Coastal Waterways

Dean Sigler Announcements, Batteries, Electric Powerplants, Sky Taxis, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Two electric approaches to providing seaside flight come from cold and warm climates and from elevations close to sea level to topping Norwegian fjords.  Both rely on electric power to carry up to 12 passengers between seaside destinations. Regent Seaglider If the Wall Street Journal can overcome its skepticism and marvel at the $7 billion in letters of intent or other forms of interest, they might look into what seems to be drawing potential customers.  That may come from the company’s mission, “To drastically reduce the cost and headache of regional transportation between coastal cities.” Skimming the water at up to 180 mph, the Regent Viceroy employs Wing In Ground effect (WIG) aerodynamics to lift it high enough to skim the waves while benefiting from flight in ground effect.  That cushion of air that helps sustain an aircraft on initial takeoff stays with the Viceroy during its entire flight, reducing the power needed and extending the range. With today’s batteries, …

Windracers Race to Fires

Dean Sigler Announcements, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Wildfires Are Not Just a U.S. Problem Windracers, a British firm specializing in autonomous flight and swarm technology, is using drones to seek out and extinguish nascent or early stage wildfires. A recent report from the University of Sheffield alerts us,  “Wildfires have become more frequent, larger, and more severe in the United Kingdom. Factors such as land use changes, higher temperatures, drought conditions, and climate change contribute to this trend. In 2022, there were over 44,000 wildfires—a rise of 72% from the previous year.” Sheffield and the University of Bristol  have partnered with Windracers, a British automated aerial delivery company, to seek out and contain wildfires early in their development cycles.  To add a trans-Atlantic link, Purdue University is joining the effort. International Concerns Windracers’ Links to English Universities As noted above, Windracers is working with the Universities of Sheffield and Bristol, combining talents in artificial intelligence and swarm technology. Dr. Lyudmila Mihaylova, Professor of Signal Processing and Control …

Solar Altitude Record and Tour de France

Dean Sigler Announcements, Batteries, Electric Aircraft Materials, Solar Power, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Une Homme of Accomplishment Jean Baptiste Loiselet is an accomplished person,  setting a recent ultralight solar altitude record in his own ultralight sailplane. That is only one of his many exploits.  He has been part of a small crew on the remote Kerguelen Islands, between the southern tip of Africa and Australia, and north of Antarctica.  With supply ships only four times a year, Jean Baptiste had to be well organized and resourceful to maintain the equipment necessary for life at the IPEV (French Polar Institute Paul-Émile Victor).  His work with Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) required full responsibility for everything from preparing requests for equipment, recruiting a team, and purchasing the needed equipment including ROVs.  Administratively, he wrote operational procedures, managed the site and and remote operations, and created reports and oversaw invoicing.  These became important elements in crafting his own solar aircraft. Beyond his duties on Antarctic expeditions, he works with young people as part of The AJD – …

Cerebral: A Brainier Kind of Battery

Dean Sigler Announcements, Batteries, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Cerebral, the brainchild of Dr. Lynden Archer—Dean of the School of Engineering at Cornell University, is as the name implies, a smart approach to battery development.  Claimed to be three times more efficient than lithium, much safer with no fire risk, and ten times faster charging, the battery is made of recycled aluminum and graphene.  In fact, materials for the battery come from United States-based waste streams.  Low-grade domestic carbon waste, for example, goes through a “Graphitizer,” a machine “created at the University of California, Riverside’s Mechanical Engineering Department and exclusively optioned by Cerebral Energy.” (Editor’s Note: Forgive the lack of product-related images or videos here.  Your editor could not find an illustration of a graphitizer, for instance, or any research photos or graphs related to this relatively new research area.  We will share any such images as soon as they are available.) The Uncertain Graphite Supply Line This is an important development, since the U. S. imports most of …

MagniX Powers a Dash 7

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

MagniX Motors in Everett, Washington looks forward to powering a short-field performance champion, the DeHavilland Dash 7. The Dash 7 is a pretty astonishing short field aircraft, emulating the bush planes of the far north, home to its Canadian maker.  Measuring its take-off and landing capabilities, this video shows what four Pratt & Whitney PT-6 turbines can do for a 40,000 pound airplane. As shown, the craft can carry heavy load from and into some pretty isolated territory without the need for sophisticated airport support systems. The idea of such performance and load-hauling is not a new idea, World War Two, and subsequent conflicts demonstrating the need for the need to get in and out of scarcely viable landscapes. To drive the point home, here’s a second video of a Dash 7 landing with 5,700 liters (10,088 pounds) of Jet-A on board.  Not only is it a short landing but a very precise one, the main gear staying within bounds …

Whisper Aero Supercomputes and Grows

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation 1 Comment

Supercomputing to Quiet Aerodynamics Whisper Aero of Crossville, Tennessee supercomputes its way to grand new designs.  Affiliating with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the powerplant designer and manufacturer uses the Lab’s supercomputer to investigate the most desirable aerodynamic approaches.  The ORNL is working with Whisper on a nine-passenger electric airplane called the Whisper Jet.  The collaborators will employ the world’s fourth fastest supercomputer, Summit.  (It was the fastest until recently).  According to ORNL, access to Summit and its graphics processing unit (GPU) architecture gives Whisper Aero’s team a tenfold speedup over Whisper’s in-house CPU (Central Processing Unit)-only systems.  It enables advanced simulations compared to previous systems. Vineet Ahuja, Whisper Aero’s Head of Flight Sciences and an Associate Fellow at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, says, “Using Summit affords us the possibility of expanding the scope of Whisper’s design and analysis activities that benefits aircraft control and aeropropulsive integration,  As a result, aerodynamic design has shown an incredible …

Buddhists Using Drones to Clean Everest

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

Chinese drone company DJI (Da Jiang Innovations) is working with Buddhist nation Nepal to supply heavy left drones that will help clear the estimated 140 tons of garbage on Mt. Everest.  Perhaps more distressingly, over 300 bodies of climbers are scattered on the mountain. World’s Highest Garbage Dump At least one body has been on the mountain since 1924, but growing incursions of climbers have grown the number of bodies and the amount of debris on the slopes.  DJI reported in June, ”Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak, has seen 6,664 successful summits as of 2023. With the increasing number of climbers each year, Everest has also become known as the “world’s highest garbage dump.” According to the Nepal Times, approximately 140 tons of waste have accumulated on Everest over seventy years. This waste includes oxygen bottles, food packaging, human waste, and even the bodies of climbers who perished on the mountain.” Buddhists, who according to a friend who practices …