Red Bull Does Give You Wings

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Red Bull, worldwide distributor of energy drinks, is good at putting on a show.  From their dramatic Hangar 7 museum, art gallery and five culinary outlets in Salzburg, Austria to their extravagant displays of derring-do, Red Bull lives large.  Their largesse is doled out in an incredible museum, gourmet feasts, and stunning acts of aerial derring-do. Hangar 7 houses pristine restorations of historic aircraft and Formula 1 race cars, an ever-changing selection of artworks, and restaurants, a bar, and cafes, all within a light-filled, glass-walled edifice.  Entrances to the Hangar remind your editor of depictions of wing lift curves seen in aerodynamic textbooks. And this video doesn’t even include the Museum’s magnificent Lockheed Constellation, or a glimpse of the five restaurants and cafe’s on site.  One of the best parts of visiting Hanger 7 is that parking and admission are free.  This is a true gift for fans of aviation history and Formula 1 racers, and enables one to enjoy …

XPrize for Drones Spotting and Fighting Fires

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

A Firefighting Competition Like No Other Xprize has given us budget space travel, hyper-economical cars, and attempts to replicate the medical functions of Star Trek’s Tricorder.  Now, the XPrize folks have turned their attentions to spotting and controlling wildfires by drones.  This fits well with the Sustainable Aviation Foundation (underwriting this blog) and its concerns about spotting and controlling wildfires at the earliest opportunity. To counter this, XPrize has launched an $11 million comptetiton to, “Protect lives, forests, and the climate: Create breakthrough technologies that detect and extinguish destructive wildfires, enabling a future where people and healthy fire can safely coexist.”  This challenge, promoting autonomous flight vehicles and the ability rapidly identify and extinguish incipient wildfires, initially drew 338 teams.  These have been culled to 15 semifinalist groups. The Semifinalists This worldwide problem drew worldwide interest.  The 15 teams are: Aerowatch of Barcelona, Spain Agni  part of TRID Systems in Dresden, Germany Anduril, in Costa Mesa, California Crossfire, College Park, Maryland (see …

Pulitzer Trophy Race 2025 Results

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For the first time in 100 years, the Pulitzer Trophy was awarded to a flight team, and for the first time to a team flying an electric aircraft. Since the Air Race itself was spread over a 50 mile course, spectators could only view the participating aircraft when they departed, passed overhead at the end of one lap of the course, and landed at the end of the race.  This is similar to a longer run for Green Flight Challenge aircraft in 2011.  Spectotors at the Pulitzer Trophy Race would have seen the aircraft a similar number of times, allowing for time to visit the static displays, which included an Opener Blackfly (now called a Pivotal Helix) and a Beta Alia. The event seen in this video was bigger than the small crowd shown, with different groups competing a worldwide series of simulated flights on personal computers.  Middle and high school students, “along with aviation-focused youth organizations,” participated, using X-Plane  …

YASA’s Second Output Record This Year

Dean Sigler Announcements, Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation 2 Comments

Mercedes-Benz, with its YASA (Yokeless and Segmented Armature) motor, has achieved a second world record this year for power density.  Pulling 1,000 horsepower from a 12 kilogram (xx pound) motor seems a bit incredible, but Mercedes has dynomometer tests to prove it. This efffort will be in production cars within a year, according to Mercedes, and the aircraft version, produced by a division called Evolito, will probably follow shortly thereafter. Even while under development at Oxford University, the motor showed great promise, as well as great torque.   This blog included the video below in 2010, with a Lotus 7 copy being flung about handily with two 40 kilowatt (53.6 horsepower) YASAs driving the rear wheels.  At that time, power was limited to 75 kilowatts (100.5 hp.), although designers believed 150 kW (201 hp.) was possible.   That early motor weighed 11 kilograms, or 23.2 pounds, one pound per three limited horsepower, one pound per six horsepower at the design limit.  As …

Piper Germany and the MDA1 Electric Commuter

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Flieger magazine reports, “Piper Deutschland AG has announced a strategic investment in MD Aircraft GmbH . The goal of the collaboration is to advance the development and production of the all-electric regional aircraft MDA1 eViator.” (Note: based on later reporting, the power bays may be incorporated into the lower part of the fuselage.  The blog will attempt to gain verification of this.) Signed on September 19, 2025, the agreement “is intended to mark the start of a new chapter in aviation for Piper – with a focus on innovation and environmental sustainabilit,” according to Flieger. Providing MD the financial stability of Piper’s funding and for Piper the planned design for a twin-motored commuter liner in the size and performance range familiar to established Piper customers, the compact should be beneficial to both companies. The MDA1 Aircraft An “all-electric short-haul aircraft with a range of up to 400 kilometers (248 miles),” The MDA1 should suit the needs of most regional commuter lines internationally. We wrote …

1Comet Debuts at Electrifly-in 2025

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1Comet, a high-performance, laminar-flow ultralight sailplane, debuted at Electrifly-in 2025 in Bern, Switzerland.  Though looking somewhat like the Ruppert Archeopteryz, there are significant differences. Both 1Comet and Archaeopteryx come in foot-launch and electric-powered versions.  Both fall into the microlight category and are capable of flying in microlift conditions. 1Comet, though, has a broader weight range, from a foot-launched glider with fixed landing gear weighing a total of 165 kilograms (364 pounds) to an electric-powered, retractable gear machine toppin out at 350 kilograms (771 pounds). Archaeopteryx has a removable electric motor behind the pilot, cleverly strapped in with Velcro fasteners.  1Comet has a fixed-position Front Electric Sustainer motor in the nose. The 1Comet web site makes the following claims for the electric-powered version.  “The low weight also makes it the ideal platform for electric flight. With only 30 kg of batteries, you can stay in the air for over 2 hours or climb more than 4000 meters. “The electric glider version …

Jean-Baptiste’s Disruptive Electrifly-in Win

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

Jean-Baptiste Loiselet is a disruptive force seemingly immune to conventional thinking.  Funding what he calls a “hybrid” aircraft from his life savings, he has flown his solar sailplane around France, set a world altitude record for electric microlight aircraft, demonstrated its airworthiness at the 2024 Paris Air Show, and recently won his third Electrifly-in award at Bern, Switzerland. The term “disruptive” is one of esteem in high-tech America, but translated into French, the hashtag “rupture” leads to Jean-Baptiste’s LinkedIn site or even to his Des Ailes pour la Planète (Wings for the Planet) website.  The following, a translation of the original French, shows how words can be misapprehended. “⚡️ Rupture or not rupture?  (disruption or not disruption?  Your editor’s interpretation.) “🏆 For the third year in a row, I’m at the top of the podium in Electrifly-In Switzerland for the sole reason that I’m the only one in my category: hybrid. “🌱 Hybrid because the Sol.Ex. is a bit of …

H55 Does a Grand Tour of America

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H55, the Swiss electric light aircraft spin-off of the Solar Impulse Foundation under Andre’ Borschberg’s leadership, has toured America from sunny Florida to sunny California and back to New York’s Hamptons. H55’s Tour of America While Beta’s Alia is making the Grand Tour of Europe, the H55-powered Bristel B25 Energic has made its own Grand Tour of the New World. Completing a “landmark tour” of America, H55’s Bristell B23 Energic went literally from sea to shining sea, visited eight states, and proved its Electric Propulsion System (EPS) to be reliable and trouble-free.  According to H55, the small craft “completed 192 all-electric passenger flights, and [visited] 25 airports across Florida, Alabama, Arizona, Nevada, California, Colorado, Wisconsin, and New York. In Florida alone, the little Energic managed 14 Airport-to-airport flights, 36 demonstration flights, and 12 Static events.  H55 hosted 30 Certified Flight Instructors (CFI and CFII), aeronautical and aviation professors at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Liberty University, and Florida Institute of Technology, two aerospace …

Solarstratos’ New Altitude Record

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Raphael Domjan’s SolarStratos set a new world altitude record for solar-powered aircraft, 9,521 meters, or 31,237 feet, on August 12, 2025. That CBS News and other press outlets saw fit to cover the event is a significant change in coverage from just having the normal technical details explained in the aviation press. The network explained, “The SolarStratos plane made the landmark flight from Sion airport in southwest Switzerland on Tuesday, taking advantage of warm air thermals to go beyond the record that has stood for 15 years.  (That record was held by Andre’ Borschberg in the Solar Impulse.) “The certified altitude record for a solar plane stands at 9,235 meters, or 30,298 feet. “The achievement is ‘one of those unforgettable peaks that define great human and technological adventures,’ the SolarStratos mission said in a statement.” CBS noted the moment when Solarstratos crossed paths with a commercial airliner, “a powerful symbol of what the decarbonized aviation of tomorrow might look like.” …

Getting Battery Materials Without China or Child Labor

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

Imagine finding essential battery materials in a common mineral and reducing atmospheric CO2 as a side benefit.  Imagine finding a source of these necessary materials without the need to negotiate with China or enrich those who employ child labor for their wealth.  Good News Network (not as Pollyanish as it may sound) featured a picture of a young woman working in a laboratory and the headline, “Chemical Process Produces Critical Battery Metals From This Unloved Mineral With No Waste.” Often, material other than the sought-for material is the largest amount of stuff removed from a mine.  Its worth is usually low because the labor and time involved in extracting any usable minerals is too great for the profits that might be realized.  This seems to be changing with a New Zealand firm called Aspiring Materials. Good News took its lead from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), which featured Aspiring Materials in its journal, IEEE Spectrum.   That journal …