Lugosi Enterprises Pioneers Late-Night Drone Deliveries

Dean Sigler Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Even while Jeff Bezos at Amazon and competitors like UPS and FedEx strive to deliver packages to your front door, a Transylvanian experiment in extreme biomicry promises to make delivery in the dark of night the new standard. While other drone makers use fixed- or rotary-wing configurations, Lugosi Enterprises relies on a radical, human-powered ornithopter with the ability to change shape and size depending on the stage of the mission in which it is engaged.  This proprietary technology is shrouded in secrecy, but enables the wingsuit wearer to shrink to an extraordinarily small size, at which point, according to Lugosi spokesperson Dwight Frye, the operator can fly an undisclosed distance in total silence, except for an occasional annoying high-pitched piping noise. For reasons best known to the Lugosi operation, deliveries will take place only at night, and will not be curtailed by high winds, thunder, or multiple lightning strikes.  Navigation will depend on bat-like echolocation, in which sounds emitted by the flyer help …

University of Transylvania’s Electrifying Flight Experiments

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

As reported here last year at this time, University of Transylvania researchers led by Dr. James Whale, Director of the Tuber Genetics Energetics Laboratory, announced a major breakthrough in GMO potato batteries, ending with research in potato chip batteries, which despite their extreme energy (think of how many calories one takes on from only a 12-ounce bag – even washed down with diet soda) were not viable candidates for vehicular applications, readily crumbling at the merest pressure. (Again, officials in America’s Southeast warn that the U of T is NOT to be confused with Transylvania University, an actual liberal arts college in Lexington, Kentucky.  Repeated attempts by potential enrollees who’ve either seen one too many Todd Browning films, or Bigfoot himself or herself, have been repulsed by University officials, all too aware of the confusion in the two schools’ identities.  Because of that unfortunate confusion, it’s the only legitimate academy that has to maintain restraining orders against a majority of its applicants.) Whale and …

U of Transylvania Announces 3 kW-Hr per Kilogram Potato Battery

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation 3 Comments

Obviously inspired by seminal research on potato batteries in Portland, Oregon, University of Transylvania researchers led by Dr. James Whale, Director of the Tuber Genetics Energetics Laboratory, announced a major breakthrough in GMO plant life with the hope for impressive gains in electric vehicle dynamics. Officials in America’s Southeast warn that the U of T is NOT to be confused with Transylvania University, an actual liberal arts college in Lexington, Kentucky.  Such confusion has led to a glut of applications from potential students with “decidedly loopy” academic credentials and “dangerously bizarre” ideas for research, according to a TU spokesperson. The earlier effort, a low-budget research project, showed that potato batteries in large quantities and wired up like a really big science fair exhibit could generate useful energy. “I built a potato battery out of 500 pounds of potatoes. It powered a small sound system. With the help of the Red 76 crew (a local arts collaborative) I installed the battery and sound …