15 years ago, the Green Flight Challenge (GFC) Sponsored by Google took to the shies over Santa Rosa, California. It featured the richest prize in aviation history at that time, $1.65 million to be awarded for different achievements. Our of 13 teams that qualified for the actual airborne event, only for made it to the Charles M. Schulz Airport. Two were battery-powered, one a hybrid, and was powered by the ubiquitous Rotax internal combustion engine.
Although only three of the entrants qualified as fully electric or hybrid vehicles, the Challenge became a series of chances to see aviation’s future.
Day One was devoted to technical inspections and weighing the aircraft. (Original Report)
Your editor was privileged to meet and interview the project leaders, designers, and pilots of these aircraft. That was a short course in beyond belief thinking. We will be sharing more videos from the event over the next few days.
NASA contributed a top-notch media team to document the event. Chris Giersch, Jackie Cortez, Franklin Fitzgerald and Blair Allen interviewed almost everyone involved and provided some fun while doing so.
The GFC, in your editor’s opinion, represents a seminal event in aviation history. It brought teams from America and Europe together, demonstrated an unexpected superiority of electric propulsion, revealed innovative configurations for flight, and performed perhaps the quietest powered air race in history.
Despite only four teams making it to the aerial event, nine others that qualified with excellent designs helped push things forward, The two winning designs have been busy in the last 15 years. eGenius has served as a test bed for range extenders, hydrogen power (its original intended power source), and set numerous distance records.
The G4 has become a platform for hydrogen power and served to demonstrate regional air service in Germany. That both it and eGenius still contribute to record books and aeronautical knowledge testifies to their design integrity and to the foresight of the Green Flight Challenge.