Une Homme of Accomplishment
Jean Baptiste Loiselet is an accomplished person, setting a recent ultralight solar altitude record in his own ultralight sailplane. That is only one of his many exploits. He has been part of a small crew on the remote Kerguelen Islands, between the southern tip of Africa and Australia, and north of Antarctica. With supply ships only four times a year, Jean Baptiste had to be well organized and resourceful to maintain the equipment necessary for life at the IPEV (French Polar Institute Paul-Émile Victor). His work with Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) required full responsibility for everything from preparing requests for equipment, recruiting a team, and purchasing the needed equipment including ROVs. Administratively, he wrote operational procedures, managed the site and and remote operations, and created reports and oversaw invoicing. These became important elements in crafting his own solar aircraft.
Solar altitude record holder Jean Baptiste with friends on one of his earlier Antarctic voyages. He also managed complex research vessels on these trips.
Beyond his duties on Antarctic expeditions, he works with young people as part of The AJD – Association of
Expanding the Capabilities of a Kit Aircraft
One has to believe that Jean-Baptiste would do something unique in traveling to the sky. With assistance from La Guilde, a unique organization dedicated to a singular commitment, he dedicated his life savings of 150,000 euros ($166,000) into crafting his solar-powered sailplane. His estimates for this 150,000 euros total commitment include the Silent aircraft, FES (Front Electric Sustainer) motor, batteries, and controls, MPPTs (Maximum Power Point Tracking) c0ntrollers, sailplane trailer and other gear. Jean-Baptiste adds, ” I did not consider the man hour work in this figure (3,5 year[s] of full time work).”
Jean Baptiste formed solar cells to carefully fitted upper contours of wing. See more like this with explanatory backgrounds on his Facebook and Instagram pages listed at the end of this entry.
La Guilde’s words seem to reflect a set of beliefs exemplified in Jean-Baptiste’s outlook. “Committed citizenship, support for individual initiative, mobilization of youth, altruistic entrepreneurship, passion for cultural action and respectful discovery of the world: we love what elevates, transforms, builds in an integral ecology, the great human adventure.”
Citing his expertise gained from his years of experience, Jean-Baptiste lists several areas that helped create his Sol. Ex. “For example, to imagine and then build the Sol.Ex. – an autonomous solar glider produced as part of the “Wings for the Planet” project, I had to work on:
- “composite materials
- “structural mechanics
- “electronics, power electricity
- “aerodynamics
“I have often had to make adaptations, or even design systems from scratch to meet the specific requirements of different missions.”
All this contributed to his converting Alisport Electro 2 13.5 meter sailplane to solar power. Asked if he made changes to the battery pack on the Silent, for instance, he explained he was, “using the output of the BMS of the batteries to get their internal information, to allow the charge only if all parameters are OK.”
He did something unique with the solar cells. According to Resoltech, “The photovoltaic cells were infused between two thin glass fabrics with our biobased infusion system 1800 ECO UV.” Details of the procedure can be seen on Jean-Baptiste’s Facebook and Instagram pages, listed below.
13.5 meter (44.29 feet) wings allow 40:1 glide ration and reasonable climb rate on FES power
Using his operational skills, he makes the solar cell and battery combination work to great advantage. He starts with, “1kW (glide ratof peak power so in ideal condition I fully recharge the empty batteries in 4 to 5 hours. In practical I usually use only 20% to 40% of batteries at takeoff, and fully recharge my takeoff in 1 to 3 hours.” Through judicious use of motor and thermals, he can stay up through daylight hours – cheap, clean flight.
The technical characteristics of the SOL.EX are as follows:
- Wingspan: 13.5 m 35 feet
- Wing area: 9 m2 96,88 square feet
- Empty weight: 235 kg 517 pounds
- Maximum weight: 345 kg 759 pounds
- Maximum speed: 220 km/h 136 mph
- Stall speed: 65 km/h 40 mph
- Minimum sink rate: 0.6 m/s 118 feet per minute
- Maximum fineness (glide ratio): 40
- Permissible load factor: +5.3 / -2.65 g
- Engine: 22 kW 29.5 hp.
- Battery capacity: 4.3 kWh
- Engine climb rate: 2 m/s 393 feet per minute
- Possible altitude gain on battery: 1500 meters 4,921 feet
- Electric autonomy: 1 hour
Combining innovative construction techniques and careful management of battery and propulsion resources, Jean-Baptiste accomplished at least three major flight goals and at least one public relations coup.
Tour de France – on Sunlight
Jean-Baptiste made a Tour de France that used the small motor of the FES powerplant and the skilled exploitation of thermals and air currents on his trip around the country.
Jean-Baptiste’s 2,600 kilometer (1,616 mile) route around his home country. Note Chauvinistic references to neighboring lands
2023 Paris Air Show
This solar-powered trip earned Sol. Ex. and its pilot a trip to the 2023 Paris Air Show, where Jean-Baptiste was able to demonstrate his little craft to an international audience.
A Solar-Powered Altitude Record
As a crowning achievement, Jean Baptiste set a world altitude record for his class of aircraft. We’ll give Jean-Baptiste the stage for this.
Lots of emotions: with the Sol.Ex. – my little solar glider – I just broke the world altitude record for an electric microlight (yes my glider is in microlight class). Your editor could not pull the video directly, follow the link below to see the actual record from inside the Sol. Ex. cockpit with Jean-Baptiste.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jean-baptiste-loiselet_worldrecord-record-planeur-activity-7221568933533753345-dZGF/?originalSubdomain=fr
“• I reached the altitude of 5786m (GPS).
“• The previous record in my category was 2366m
“• The previous record for all categories of electric microlights was 4489m
“Homologation of the record in progress…
“I never thought I’d set a world record aboard a machine that I had imagined and developed in my workshop…
“Thank you to those who support the “Wings for the Planet” project.”
Future Plans
Asked about a two-seat sailplane your editor saw on the Wings of the Planete web site, Jean-Baptiste replied, “As soon as I can, as soon as I have the budget… Can be from an existing aircraft, or an original design. I have already studied 4 options and I’ll decide when the budget starts to arrive.”
Future potential solar-powered two-seat craft
Further Exploration
This blog can’t begin to do justice to the splendid design and fabrication of the solar wings on the Sol. Ex. Review the stages of construction on Des Ailes Pour la Planete Facebook page here.
See the project’s page here.
Review images of the project here.
If you are fluent in French, see Jean Baptiste’s TedX Talk here.