Anne Lavrand, founder and head of Electravia in Sisteron, France, emailed to tell of her latest creation before packing up to attend the Basse-Ham, France powered paraglider meet and airshow, the Mondial de Paramoteurs. She wrote, “I hope this new realization will have some success there!” She announced “first flights of the E-SPIDER, the first 2-seater electric powered paraglider in the world.” The 32nd aircraft flown with her power system attached, it reflects what this hard-working woman has been able to accomplish since 2007, with customers in Europe, Australia, Brazil, China, Taiwan, the USA and Canada. It joins an array of single and twin motor ultralight aircraft, motorgliders, trikes, hang gliders, and paramotors electrified by Electravia. Anne’s team has even crafted a 2/3 scale LeMans racer that was part of this year’s opening ceremonies at the famed track. E-Spider uses a Flytec HP-13.5 brushless motor, different from the brushed-type Lynch motors used on most of Electravia’s aircraft. The little pancake-like …
Czechoslovakian Flying Bike – ET, Here We Come
The dream of flying a bicycle is older than the special effects magic of ET, harking back to the aviettes of turn-of-the-20th century France and the works of Jules Verne and Czech writer Jaroslav Foglar. A Czech design team may soon make this fantasy more believable. Technodat, a Czechoslovakian CAD developer; Evektor, designer and manufacturer of light sport and general aviation aircraft; and Duratec, a bicycle and bike supplies firm, have consolidated efforts with Dassault Systémes and CAXMIX – both partners providing software platforms, to make this long-sought dream a reality. Their so-far virtual reality is the FBike, a velocipede with six propellers that can make brief hops off the ground and stabilize itself in all three axes while in flight. First tests of the actual machine are due in August, and it will be seen whether it can jump over traffic and make its way in a third dimension. The makers are doing this as a proof of concept, …
24 Hours of LeMans – Hybrids, KERS and High Speeds
The 24 Hours of LeMans is the quintessential motorsports event every year, pitting the top automobile racing teams in the world against the endurance trial of completing a full day’s run at “full chat,” as the British used to say, overcoming weather, wear and tear, and competing drivers. Traditionally populated with internal-combustion gasoline engine powered racers in many sizes and classifications, the race has seen inroads with turbo-diesels, hybrids, and hints there may be soon full electric competitors. The most advanced class this year comprised a collection of formerly exotic technologies, with a variety of approaches to going fast. The race’s official web site explains, “The LM P1 class (Le Mans Prototype 1) welcomes machines at the leading edge of progress. All ideas are welcome: front or rear engines, petrol or diesel, turbocharged or atmospheric … But the big trend right now is the emergence of systems for kinetic energy recovery (KERS). Storage batteries or flywheel, returns energy to front …
Solar Impulse Turns Back
June 13 was not a good flying day for Solar Impulse. Hoping to finish this epic journey between continents, Andre Borschberg ran into stiff winds and severe turbulence. Although in the air for 16 hours and 6 minutes while covering 780 kilometers (484 miles), the flight did not make it to its destination of the solar plant at Quarzazate, but returned to Rabat after battling winds and extreme turbulence. Since the airplane cruises at around 30-35 miles per hour, its average ground speed for the flight of 55 kilometers per hour (34.1 mph) seemed normal enough, but didn’t show the wild swings in groundspeed experienced by Borschberg, a strong contrast to the uneventful leg between Madrid and Morocco. At one point, ground speed was around 10 km/h, or 6.2 mph. At another, ground speed exceeded 140 km/h, or 87 mph. Unfortunately the good tailwinds were all blowing away from the destination and at 14:34 Greenwich Time (UTC) after over seven …
FlyNano Flight Testing Teased
From the frozen north of Finland comes the news that FlyNano has flown its electric prototype. Originally planned to have both two-stroke and electric powerplants, the five-meter span joined-wing flying boat is now only electric, its makers citing the strides made in development of motors and batteries in the last several years for their decision. Designed to stay under 70 kilograms (154 pounds) empty weight, FlyNano has a maximum takeoff weight of 200 kilograms (440 pounds). Its small size and light weight make it possible to fly, based on the video, but with no specifications for motor, controller and battery. A company press release gives a “speed range of 70 – 140 kilometers per hour (43-87 mph) with a service ceiling of 3 kilometers (9,820 feet). FlyNano’s true airspeed is about 140 km/h at 75% power with a theoretical operational distance of 70 km (43 miles).” The statement of “true airspeed” causes one to wonder at what altitude this speed …
On From Rabat – Solar Impulse Explores Morocco
Solar Impulse took off from Rabat-Sale’ Airport this morning 08:07 a. m. local time, heading over Casablanca and Marrakesh on its way south to Quarzazate, where it is expected to land at 00:30 a. m. local time. Considering early ground speeds under 15 kilometers per hour (about 9 miles per hour), headwinds are a major constraint. Turbulence may also cause difficulties, the area having an average daily temperature in the high 90s and low 100s Fahrenheit. Quarzazate is a high desert city whose name in Arabic means “noiselessly,” probably reflecting the vast stillness of the surround desert. Home to Atlas film studios, one of the largest in world, and setting, along with the desert and Atlas Mountains, for films such as Lawrence of Arabia and Gladiator, the area is also a prime solar-energy site for MASEN, the Moroccan solar agency and destination for the Solar Impulse. MASEN is on track to complete a solar farm at Quarzazate, along with four …
e-volo Wins Lindbergh Innovation Award
e-volo, the company that crafted the VC-1 16-blade ultralight helicopter last year, won the Lindbergh Prize for that accomplishment and for its ongoing development of the multi-rotor platform, with single, two-seat, and unmanned aerial vehicles in conceptual versions. Yolanka Wulff, CEO of the Lindbergh Foundation, shared their press release on this award, given April 20 at AERO-Friedrichshafen. Erik Lindbergh presented the AERO 2012 Lindbergh Prize for Innovation to e-volo for the group’s “breakthroughs in redundancy, simplicity of controls and inefficiencies inherent in the control surfaces normally used in aircraft.” The Foundation noted, “This aircraft was so innovative that it appears to be in a category all by itself.” The award cited the safety of multiply redundant motors, controllers, and propellers, and explains that the next design phase, the VC evolution 2P, will “relocate the propulsion units above the fuselage which should improve the stability with a lower center of gravity and allow for the use of a whole airframe parachute …
Whistling at High Frequencies in the Dark
The same millimeter wave-length scanning that sees through your clothes at TSA’s very personal pre-flight inspections in airports could also provide a new type of heads-up display for pilots. With an ability to distinguish power lines and other finely-resolved images in otherwise total visual blackouts, the technology could find a place in navigation, searches, and even private flying. A few drawbacks stand in the way, however. Extremely high frequency MMW devices sense objects at a range just below that of the lowest frequency infrared light. The high frequency allows a high level of discrimination in imaging. Used in automobiles for applications such as radar braking and adaptive cruise control, the potential for adapting such devices to weather flying is promising. Used today in military helicopters, it is highly useful in places like Afghanistan, where blackouts of Biblical proportions darken mountain passes at incredibly high density altitudes. Operation Eagle Claw, the 1979 rescue attempt of 400 American prisoners in Iran was …
Phantom Eye Flies, Breaks a Leg
Boeing’s Phantom Eye, hydrogen-powered HALE (High Altitude Long Endurance) surveillance aircraft rose from its launch cart at 6:22 a.m. Pacific time on June 1, then climbed to an altitude of 4,080 feet on its 28 minute maiden flight. Phantom Eye is meant to be an autonomous craft with four-day mission capabilities. The bulbous front fuselage houses two spherical hydrogen tanks that feed the Ford 2.3 liter engines on the 150-foot, high-aspect ratio wings. The engines, triple turbocharged at altitude, emit only water vapor, making spying a little cleaner. Note the web-like spinning of carbon fiber strands making up the fuselage. This highly-automated manufacturing process probably emulates that used on the company’s 787 Dreamliner and reflects the high-technology methods we can expect in the future. Phantom Eye’s landing was not quite as elegant as its takeoff, one landing gear breaking after digging into the Edwards Air Force base lakebed. Despite the glitch, Boeing remained upbeat about its new bird. “This day …
Solar Impulse Crosses Mediterranean, Joins Continents
Waking up in the middle of the David Letterman show this morning, your editor stumbled into the computer room to check on the Solar Impulse trip to Morocco. From the live Google Earth map shown on their web site, and the inset live video of Bertrand Piccard, all was well, and the giant solar-powered craft was sailing over surprisingly irregular terrain. It just wasn’t the expected flat, featureless desert seen in countless films. Solar Impulse was probably still flying over Spain at that time, having taken off at 3:22 a. m. local time (5:22 coordinated universal time or Greenwich time) from Madrid’s Barajas Airport. At 7:30 a. m. local time (Pacific Daylight Time – 4:30 UTC), Bertrand Piccard was crossing the narrow strip of sea between the Spain and Morocco and making his way along the Moroccan coastline, chatting happily with his daughter back in Payerne, Switzerland, the airplane’s home base. Solar Impulse attained 8,229 meters (27,000 feet) during the trip, and …