The 2018 Sustainable Aviation Symposium was a master class in aircraft design, electric and hybrid power, and the strategies that will make green flight a reality in our near and distant futures. The considerable knowledge imparted in that gathering is now available for your education and enlightenment on YouTube. Better than (Most) Cat Videos Go here to see the entire 2018 Symposium program, complete with links to a video of each speaker’s talk. Or go here for the library of presentations on YouTube. Either link provides high-quality video of the 20 presentations from this year’s Sustainable Aviation Symposium. You will see all the slides in each presentation and hear each presenter’s eloquent exposition. These range from the simplest of garage-based projects (your editor’s attempt to build the world’s cheapest electric airplane) to far-ranging inquiries into the real-world blessings and possible consequences of having an aerial armada of commuter vehicles hovering over our cities. Like potato chips or peanuts, you probably …
Sustainable Skies in San Francisco
I’m writing this in the first person, rather than the usual third-person voice that allows me to remain objective about things on which I report. In this case, I have been the recipient of much joy over the last ten years from being an observer of the ongoing progress in electric aviation. Dr. Brien Seeley, founder of the Sustainable Aviation Foundation, asked me to begin writing a blog about electric aviation in 2009. One of my original postings concerned a Kitplanes Magazine contributor, David Ullman – who was this year’s Sustainable Aviation Symposium’s keynote speaker. In 2009, he predicted a great future for electric aviation – most of which has come to pass, and some of which he is creating in his hangar with his fully-instrumented wind tunnel and ambitious blown-wing design. He proposes something called USTOL, Ultimate Short Takeoff and Landing, aircraft that will use a dynamic relationship between their power and lift systems. His vehicle for demonstrating this …
Slept in? 2018 SAS Early Bird Registration Extended!
For those wishing you’d acted sooner, early bird registration for the 2018 Sustainable Aviation Symposium has been extended until April 6. You can still sign up for an opportunity to hear and see the best in cutting-edge presentations by experts in aerodynamics, electric power systems, and future flight controls at the urban and national levels. We’ve added speakers since you last looked. Ed Reyes, CEO of Sabrewing Aircraft Company, is ready to share his leadership experience on the Global Hawk project, and how Sabrewing is building a regional unmanned cargo aircraft that can lift 2 metric tons. Sabrewing is also the only American team chosen to participate in the Pacific Drone Challenge™ to fly from Japan to the Silicon Valley in 2019. Dr. Daniel Sperling, Professor and Founding Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies – UC Davis, and part of the 2007 Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change team, will share insights included in his new book, Three Revolutions, …