Stralis – Audacious Australian Startup

Dean Sigler Announcements, Electric Aircraft Components, Electric Powerplants, Fuel Cells, hydrogen, Hydrogen Fuel, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Stralis is an Australian startup with great ambition and some pretty audacious ideas.  Bob Criner, the firm’s Co-founder and CEO (with Stuart Johnstone who is also Chief Technical Officer or CTO),  gives a quick overview of those ambitions and the unique solutions he and his team are developing. Solutions include hydrogen-powered aircraft powered by fuel cells that are six times lighter than competing types.  The  certainly thinner, based on images from the company.  Stralis has, “…filed our provisional patent application for our our high-temperature PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) fuel stack design.”  The firm has also been completing several rounds of fund raising from investors and building a customer base, with, “$263M in Letters of Intent from a range of customers across 5 countries,” for propulsion systems and aircraft. Bonnie and Clyde With the power system ready, the team created an airborne test bed (Bonnie) and a ground-based power systems test unit (Clyde) to demonstrate what their systems can do. The …

Kasaero Flies a Hydrogen Amphibian

Dean Sigler Announcements, Batteries, Electric Aircraft Components, Electric Powerplants, Fuel Cells, hydrogen, Hydrogen Fuel, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Kaesaero, a company specializing in unique aircraft, flew an ultralight hydrogen amphibian on September 23.  Often considered as too heavy and bulky for light aircraft, hydrogen has been seen recently on commercial commuter craft, but rarely on puddle-jumpers available at your local airport. The outing by a Dornier DS-2C, described by Dornier as, “a two-seat amphibious, light sports aircraft manufactured from lightweight, carbon fiber materials. Light by design, but incorporating structural integrity for safety of flight. The aircraft can host up to two occupants and 100 liters of fuel, which secures your next adventure.” Normally powered by a Rotax 912iS Sport engine of 73.5 kilowatts (95.5 horsepower), the two-seat, 650 kilogram (1,430 pound) craft has a maximum cruise speed of 250 kilometers per hour (155 mph) and a stall speed of 73 kilometers per hour (45 mph). Its 9.18 meter span gives it a rate of climb of 3.2 meters per second (630 feet per minute) and the ability to …

Beta Technologies Goes eVTOL and eCTOL

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Beta Technologies’ Alia comes in two variants, eVTOL and eCTOL.  The electric Vertical Take Off and Landing version and electric Conventional Take Off and Landing version have demonstrated their abilities in their full flight ranges, flown a total of 40,000 miles, and helped show off the company’s electric charging network.   Founded by Kyle Clark and Dr. Martine Rothblatt, head of United Therapeutics, Beta grew from the need to transport human organs quickly from donors to recipients. Dr. Rothblatt has a fascinating background, described in her medical company’s web site. “Dr. Rothblatt founded United Therapeutics in 1996 and has served as Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer since its inception. Previously, she created the satellite radio company SiriusXM. She is an inventor or co-inventor on nine U.S. patents, with additional applications pending. Her pioneering book, Your Life or Mine: How Geoethics Can Resolve the Conflict Between Private and Public Interests in Xenotransplantation*, anticipated the need both for global virus bio-surveillance and …

Electra Aero Announces Nine-Seat uSTOL

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

Moving from a technology demonstrator to a full-scale nine-seat uSTOL (ultra Short Take Off and Landing) prototype, Electra Aero is showing significant progress in flight that can take advantage of unprepared fields, and pocket airparks that could conceivably serve neighborhoods. Since its introduction, the Electra Aero Goldfinch has demonstrated on a small scale what Electra hopes to achieve with its blown-wing technology on a nine-seat commuter craft.  The Goldfinch has drawn the attention of the military.  It repeatedly demonstrated its ability to take off and land within 150 feet, and its overall arrival and departure flight path emulates that of helicopters. Test pilot Cody Allee has shown the craft’s ability to land and take off on unprepared surfaces and to maintain control in 150-foot diameter turns before both the Air Force’s AFWERX  program and Navy audiences.  That maneuverability speaks well for its potential combat use. The video overview below of Electra’s history gives a good idea of the company’s design …

The Villiger Traveler – A Stunning Resemblance

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

The Villiger Traveler is a Swiss aircraft that looks remarkably like the SmartFlyer SF-1 featured in our last posting.  Despite the similar styling, the Traveler has a unique history of its own, and a few stable mates that reflect its careful engineering. The Traveler 230 First introduced in 2017, the Traveler was derived from the TR230, a Cessna-like craft designed with assistance from Calin Cologan and others.  The conventional aircraft, based on other works from this group, was probably Swiss precise in its manufacture. But a different approach and less conventional look were on their way. Same Name, Different Approach Possibly taking the same approach as that taken by the SmartFlyer group, the Villiger team designed a similar appearing airplane, but with two initial variants that gave them some flexibility in choosing components. Carrying on e-Genius’ Platform By 2019, the Villiger craft was probably set in plastic, so to speak.  Such designs have to be “dialed in” early, and because …

Swiss Smartflyer – An Advanced Design

Dean Sigler Announcements, Batteries, Electric Aircraft Components, Electric Aircraft Materials, Electric Powerplants, Fuel Cells, GFC, Hybrid Aircraft, hydrogen, Hydrogen Fuel, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

The Swiss Smartflyer SF-1 is an advanced design showing links to the second-place finisher in the 2011 Green Flight Challenge. Launching an Airplane and an Event The creators of the Smartflyer were intent on developing a different kind of aircraft when they started in 2015.  Their hybrid aircraft had three different modes of power from the beginning: pure electric power from batteries, hydrogen fuel cells, and a Rotax engine driving a generator that powers the motor’s batteries. They’ve retained those three configurations to this day, obviously modifying or upgrading them as technology changed.  That’s part of the beauty of electric aircraft.  Motors, components and batteries keep improving, and are easy to add or change. In pure electric version, batteries fill nose, promise 2.5 hours of flight. The overall design is close to that of the original, with three replaceable power sources available for the long nose and a high-mounted propeller on the vertical tail.  That “look” came from Dipl-Ing. Rudolf …

Back Soon

Dean Sigler Uncategorized Leave a Comment

You may have noticed a lack of recent content.  Your editor was enjoying a brief holiday in the emergency room of a local hospital.  His defibrillator triggered last Thursday.  The device clinic that monitors such happenings told him to go the nearest ER, where it was determined he needed to check in at a larger hospital cross town.  There, he was poked, prodded and had ultrasounds taken of his heart.  The next day, he was in surgery having two new stents plugged into his still-beating heart. After a short recovery, he’s ready to get back to researching and writing this blog.  More tomorrow. Thank you for your patience.  

Dragonflies and CoFlow Technology

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

A Different Approach to Regional Aerial Mobility Dr. Gecheng Zha sees a relationship between dragonflies and his CoFlow technology.  Mimicking the look, and more importantly, the aerodynamics of the creature.  Director of the Aerodynamic and CFD Lab, University of Miami (UM), Zha is expanding his research into eVTOL (electric Vertical Take Off and Landing) aircraft, Martian exploration, and large scale sailing ships. His talk at the 2019 Sustainable Aviation Symposium at UC Berkeley was a revelation and his subsequent work shows the multiple directions in which his CoFlow technology can be applied. Urban and Regional Air Mobility CoFlow Jet does the improbable trick of pushing air over the wing, only to have it sucked in near the trailing edge, passed through an internal compressor and blown out through slots in the wing’s leading edge, creating a steady stream that increases the lift coefficient and lowers the drag coefficient.  Zha claims that this enables the use of battery power because the propulsors can …

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?

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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 …