While at Sun n’ Fun in Lakeland, Florida, we couldn’t help but notice Jim Lee’s Phoenix Air Phoenix, an S-LSA (Special Light Sport Aircraft) motorglider from the Czech Republic, posed as it was on the line of march into the air show area proper. Your editor was interested in the PhoEnix, the electric version of the proper looking and highly attractive Rotax-powered version in the Light Sport Aircraft display display, next to its Pipistrel neighbors. There were a great many middle European LSAs being shown, but the Phoenix had ended up on the Airshow’s promotional poster, neatly avoiding the FA-18s of the Blue Angels. The electric version will be competing in the Green Flight Challenge, so revelations from Jim Lee, the airplane’s U. S. distributor and pilot in the GFC, were the usual furtive responses to detailed questions. All competitors are being careful to avoid revealing too much until after Larry Ford’s presentation at the fifth annual Electric Aircraft Symposium in …
The Electric Firefly Sets Two World Records
Jean-Luc Soullier has converted Michel Colomban’s two-cylinder internal combustion MC-30 Luciole (Firefly) into an electric aircraft – not without some teething problems, but with plenty of promise. His group, LSA, Luxembourg Spécial Aerotechnics, consists of Jean-Luc, Martin Marschner von Helmreich, and Fabrice Tummers – and has terrific ambitions. Fabrice, in response to questions about the record attempts, sent the following: “Our target in 2011 is to realize the totality of the world records of the F.A.I. in the category RAL 1E, and cross the Mediterranean Sea. The first attempt [a speed record] was not ratified by the F.A.I. but the medium speed recorded was 160 kilometers per hour (99.4 mph) over 15 kilometers. (9.3 miles)” With the 118 pounds of batteries now on board, the airplane has more than one hour endurance, but a proposed switch to hydrogen fuel cells will allow six-hour flights and make Mediterranean crossings a breeze. If the team can keep the motor and controller cool. Reports …
Lindy Hop to Lindbergh LEAP
Sun n’ Fun, following a disastrous sweep by an F1 tornado through the flight line on Thursday, March 31, came back strong the following day, with F-22 demonstration flights, the Blue Angels, and a full contingent of top-drawer aerobatic pilots. The Green Aviation exhibits your editor had hoped to visit were partly gone, tents and exhibits having been dismantled and carted away in the remarkable overnight cleanup effort that took place, but the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU)/Lindbergh Electric Aircraft Prize (LEAP) Stemme S-10 gleams undamaged in the sun. Lisa Costello, a graduate student in aeronautical engineering, explains some highlights of what the students are crafting. Entered in the upcoming Green Flight Challenge, the S-10 was to use a combination of hydrogen fuel cells and lithium batteries for motivating an electric motor. That hybrid has been replaced by a Flight Design/Rotax hybrid that combines a 100 horsepower engine with an electric motor for power. Lisa suggests we go to a nearby …
“Mishap” to AeroVironment Global Observer
It wasn’t an April Fool’s Day joke, even though AeroVironment’s press release is dated April 1. Their Global Observer crashed in the Mojave Desert during extended duration flight testing. AeroVironment stressed that there were “No injuries or damage to other property reported during envelope expansion flight testing,” and that an “Investigation Board will be convened to probe the cause and provide details of the mishap.” The mishap occurred at 2:30 a. m., approximately 18 hours into the craft’s ninth test flight. AeroVironment’s press release continues, “’Flight testing an innovative new solution like Global Observer involves pushing the frontiers of technology and convention,’ said Tim Conver, AeroVironment chairman and chief executive officer. ‘Risk is a component of every flight test program, and the learning that results from a mishap enables us to improve system reliability and performance. One benefit of testing an unmanned aircraft system is that pilots and crew are not in harm’s way when a mishap occurs.’” The flight test team, …
Craftsmanship and Courage
Last February, the blog reported on the low-cost Flying Flea formula, four-motored ultralight that Nedo Lavorini built and flew. Unknown to your editor at that time, YouTube has videos of the construction of what turns out to be at least three fuselages. That answers the question of why the aircraft flew with at least two landing gear configurations. Parental and Spousal Warning: You may want to view the video privately before allowing your children (or wife) to see the following. There is a bit of eye candy in Nedo’s workshop, and even the cameraman seems to be distracted momentarily. The flying video gives a new meaning to the term “tree hugger.” The Pulce Elletricca seems not to have a great rate of climb with its four 2 kilowatt Chinese model airplane motors doing their best to lift the 330-pound all-up-weight flea. It’s a heroic effort for the pilot, and the under $5,500 total cost for the nicely crafted machine is certainly …
Glass Like Metal, Plastic Like Steel
Two very different materials forming techniques using materials that seem to defy their “normal” characteristics promise lighter, stronger, more efficiently manufactured products – with potential applications for green flight. Dr. Seeley shared this item from Science Daily, regarding the potential use for this new material in the solar highways reported here. One critique of that design is the need to maintain structural integrity with semi-trucks passing over a layer of glass through which everything from lane markers to warning messages could be displayed. Jan Schroers, a materials scientist at Yale University, is experimenting with a new class of materials called bulk metallic glasses (BMG), or metal allows with randomly arranged atoms. “Normal” metals have more well-ordered crystalline structures, but the random atoms of BMGs, “Can be molded into complex shapes with the same ease and low expense as plastic but without sacrificing the strength and durability of metal,” according to Science Daily’s February 28, 2011 report. The report quotes Schroers, …
Elektra One Video and a Correction
This morning, your editor entered the press release and a photo of the PC Aero Elektra One in flight, noting that the landing gear was probably retracted to allow the low energy use reported by Calin Gologan, the plane’s designer. The video and its accompanying text belie that assumption, and promise even better performance when the airplane is reconfigured in the near future. “Elektra One performed the first flight on 19 Mar. 2011 at the Augsburg Airport in Germany. Jon Karkow, a well known test pilot and aircraft engineer performed the first flight. Flight characteristics and engne parameter were tested. The test pilot was very satisfied with the results. Three flights were performed. The climbing rate was 400 ft/min. A new 30 min. flight was performed on 23 Mar. Only about 3kW from the total on board of 6kWh energy was used. In the next two weeks the new variable pitch propeller and the retractable landing gear will be installed.” …
Elektra One Has First Flight
The brief press release and single photograph from PC-Aero says it all: “ELEKTRA ONE from PC-Aero performed successfully its First Flight for about 30 minutes. Using only 3 kWh of energy. “The internal First Flight was performed by the well known testpilot Jon Karkow. He did the first check for the flight performance and characteristics of the electric aircraft and briefed the german testpilot Norbert Lorenzen for the next official First Flight.” Although static tests were completed late last year, speculation that Germany’s tough certification laws held up test flights ran through some of the aviation press. The angle of the photograph makes it difficult to tell whether the center-line landing gear was retracted or not, but the low energy use indicates the gear might have been tucked up. Energy use certainly reflects designer Calin Gologan’s assertion that “Elektra One needs only about 6.5 kW/h at 100 MPH. This will be equivalent with about 500 passenger MPG.” Elektra One is …
A Matter of Great Faith
A technique used by jungle aviation missionaries over 50 years ago may provide an answer to aerial delivery problems such as dropping water on the current radioactive fires in Japan, according to Gaylord Olson, a Princeton, New Jersey reader of the CAFE Blog. Nate Saint was a Mission Aviation Fellowship pilot and missionary to the Auca Indians in the Ecuadorian jungle when he and four others were killed in 1956 by members of the tribe. Life Magazine published a 10-page article on the group’s martyrdom, and two movies depicted their lives and last hours. Saint was also an inventive soul, who may have know about early patents for a system he called the “bucket drop,” a method for delivering equipment and supplies to the floor below a rain forest canopy. In the video, Saint’s son Steve demonstrates the technique. Researchers at Mississippi State University adapted the technique to two-aircraft use, as described in a 1983 paper by Francis M. Wilson, …
Lucky 13 to Fly in Green Flight Challenge
Following rigorous evaluations of all aircraft to ensure they meet all standards for the contest, Dr. Brien Seeley, President of the CAFE Foundation, announced the 13 entrants who will compete in the Green Flight Challenge at Santa Rosa, California between July 11 and 17, 2011. This exciting event will offer the public a first view of some incredible designs and resourceful competitors. Since the minimum performance required for consideration includes things such as the ability to fly a 200 mile course at 100 mph or better average speed, the ability to clear a 50-foot barrier on a 2,000 foot runway during both takeoff and landing, and the efficiency to attain at least 200 passenger miles per gallon during the overall flight, all aircraft are obviously the most efficient aerial creations yet seen. Rules were established to encourage designers to make “real world”, practical craft rather than specialized designs that could win the contest but find no real purpose or willing owners. Even things such as cockpit design and …