Small, Quick, and Getting Quicker

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Frédéric Laude reports on the Flying Electron blog about his recent flight in the CC01e, a small canard aircraft designed by Claude Chudzik 30 years ago and pulled from storage to see if it could benefit from electric power. After a first, one-lap-around-the-field flight on March 23, Frédéric made a second flight of 15 minutes the following day.  On landing, the team found that the batteries still had 60-percent of their full charge remaining.  The airplane was stable and easy to fly, despite the presence of a big helicopter that seemed to insist on making the circuits with the petite canard. Problems with the in-line landing gear persisted, though, and the team spent the next several weeks modifying a nose gear that needed strengthening.  They replaced a weak aluminum piece with titanium and made changes to the retraction mechanism. On the airplane’s third flight April 13, Frédéric  noted, “We still had a little problem with that damn front,” referring to …

Reanimating a 30-Year-Old Canard with an Electrical Charge

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation 1 Comment

The CC01e, a tiny, single-seat canard design by Frenchman Claude Chudzik, flew for the first time in 30 years years, now powered by an Electravia-supplied motor system.  Taking off from Nangis airport, team member Frederic Laude gingerly guided the airplane on its single circuit of the field. He reported some tendency to “marsouine,” or porpoise, of which he’d been forewarned, and managed to keep the pitch oscillations in check.  Based on the team’s report on their blog, he accelerated to 60 knots (69 mph), pulled lightly on the stick and “jumped” off the runway.   You can see the porpoise-like bobble immediately after lift-off, and Frederic’s ability to get things under control quickly.  Once on track, he reached 94 knots (108 mph) in the pattern and managed a reasonable landing on the craft’s single-track landing gear.   Originally flown with a 25-horsepower two-stroke engine, the aircraft has been reconfigured for a Lynch-type, 50-horsepower motor, controller and battery package supplied by Electravia.  …