Peter Sripol’s Mk. IV is Paramotor Powered

Dean Sigler Batteries, Electric Aircraft Components, Electric Aircraft Materials, Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Peter Sripol creates interesting ultralight aircraft, among other, sometimes scary projects. His latest is pulled along by a paramotor motor.  Because of the small aircraft’s low and slow performance, the low-power (and very low noise) motor seems more than sufficient to the task. His fourth design, the Mk IV has no ailerons, much like an earlier ultralight, the Skypup.  After initial tests showed shortcomings with the Mk. IV,  quickly modified wings allowed Peter to return to the air quickly.  As he explains, there won’t be plans for this airplane because it has too many not as yet time-tested innovations.  The hot-wire-cut foam structure and vinyl wrapped wings are an unknown in terms of longevity, so it’s probably best to let …

A Swan among the Ultralights

Dean Sigler Electric Aircraft Materials, Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation, Uncategorized 1 Comment

At this year’s Aero Friedrichshafen, Modern Wings showed off their Swan Ultralight, a nicely packaged machine that can fly on either fossil fuels or electricity.  Of course, we’ll feature the electric version here. The Swan E115-22 is an electrically-powered airplane of 115 kilograms (253 pounds) empty weight powered by a 22-horsepower motor.  That empty weight puts it solidly into U. S. FAR Part 103 territory and SSDR (single-seat deregulated) requirements in Great Britain, and a 120 kilogram (264 pound) version complies with Regulation 120 in Germany.  Maximum takeoff weight is 300 kilograms (660 pounds), heavier than the 524 pounds Part 103 allows, and possible legal depending on how local FAA inspectors view batteries as part of empty or total weight. …

A New Entry in Electric Para-Gliding

Dean Sigler Electric Aircraft Components, Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

EV World announced a new electric para-motor, complete with a new motor, composite mounts, and a series of battery pack setups.  Made in France, a complete setup with parasail, motor, controller, batteries and controls costs 14,210 euros ($16,057).  This may seem pricey, but consider that a paramotor can be carried in a pickup or SUV, needs no airport, and is truly “free flight,” avoiding a lot of the rules that encumber much of general aviation. George Blottin, the founder of Aeronature, a parasail and paramotor training site in southern France, wanted something that would avoid the noise and occasional failure of two-and-four-stroke engines.  Electric motors fit that bill, and he worked with a participant on the Airbus e-Fan project to …

EAS IX: Chip Erwin Gets Personal with Electric Flying

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation 1 Comment

Light Sport Aircraft (LSA), alas, haven’t lived up to their early hype, 100 manufacturers selling only 235 units in the United States last year.  That bothers Chip Erwin, who would like a Personal Sport Aircraft (PSA) option.  He’s working through his company, Aeromarine LSA, to do something about that. Chip explains that high prices for LSAs, brought on by doubling Rotax prices over the last decade and quadrupling of once cheap European labor rates, has put what were to be $50,000 airplanes into the $150,000 price range, barely able to compete with used Cessnas and Pipers. Having demonstrated two-stroke engines and an Electravia motor on his imported Zigolo ultralight glider, he has displayed an alternative motor designed by Don Lineback, …

Hungarian Flying Trike Makes Debut

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This six-rotored, six-motored flying “Y” may make you ask “why, indeed,” but its makers are enthusiastic about its prospects.  Even though its second test flight lasted only a minute and a half, its rider looked as happy as though he’d just ridden the mechanical bull at Gilley’s.  Certainly the riding posture is similar, and the Flike (flying trike) might show more three-dimensional moves than the beast tethered to the barroom’s floor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmiMx7ClcSI Flike’s designers and builders are funded by a major Hungarian government-based non-profit organization  dedicated, it would seem, to emerging technologies in biological, engineering, and environmental sciences, among others. The six NT-Power motors are probably the 15 kilowatt units (the other option is a 12 kW version), with maximum input of …

Academy Award Winner, Legion of Honor Recipient Conquer the Channel

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Anne Lavrand, head of Electravia, shared this news in her blog this morning. Following its initial flight at the Coupe Icare in 2011, the electric airship Iris Challenger was slated to make a cross-English Channel attempt later that year. Unfortunately, prevailing winds prevailed against that November attempt between Dover and Calais. Patience and careful planning finally paid off for pilots Pierre Chabert and Gerard Feldzer, though, and today, they made the crossing from France to Dymchurch, England in two hours and 23 minutes. Built by Airstar (Chabert is founder and president/CEO of the company), the envelope contains 568 cubic meters (20,059 cubic feet) of helium, and can carry a payload of 200 kilograms (440 pounds). Equipped with two electric motors …

Paramotors Get Own Web Site – And It Speaks French

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Anne Lavrand of Electravia in Sisteron, France has announced a new web site, dedicated to her company’s electric powered paragliders (PPG). Initially, the new web site will promote Electravia’s e-Spider Mono ultralight powered parachute, a 23 kilogram (50.6 pounds) package with: • A 17 horsepower electric motor and controller, an e-Screen, three-inch LED display showing motor and battery status. • an e-Props 1.6 meter (5.25 feet) propeller in Electravia’s unique QD2 arrangement, which offsets blade angles to generate more thrust and less noise. • a Kokam lithium-polymer battery pack (1.55 kWh), with battery management system (BMS) and protection circuit module (PCM). • a charger for lithium-polymer batteries. • a 1.6 meter diameter aluminum hexagonal cage, weighing only 4 kilograms (8.8 pounds). …

Electravia Makes a Good Showing at Aero Expo

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Anne Lavrand, founder and President of Electravia, continues to find ways to expand her company’s product offerings while offering well-integrated packages of reasonably-priced electric aircraft and components. At this year’s Aero Expo in Friedrichshafen, Germany, her firm displayed the fuselage of the Electrolight 2, a modified Fauconnet sailplane, fitted with a 30-hp Lynch-type motor, controller, and batteries.  It is the least expensive electric motorglider on the market at only 30,000 Euros ($39,600), and allows powered flight for recharging costs of about 0.65 Euros per hour (86 cents).  The motor, normally graced by one of Anne’s wooden e-Props, had a forward-folding “clap propeller” or “bec de canard” (literally, the beak of the duck), a variant on the light carbon fiber propellers …

Electravia, Cri-Cri Set Speed Record at Paris Air Show

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Anne Lavrand of Electravia in Grenoble, France, shares this exciting news from the Paris Air Show today. “A new speed world record for electric aircraft : 283 km/h ! (175.46 mph) “Hugues Duval holds the world speed record for an electrically powered aircraft after reaching the top speed of 283 km/h during his presentation flight today in the 49th Paris Air Show (Saturday 25th of June, 2011). “This electric Cri-Cri is powered by two electric propulsion systems ELECTRAVIA (35 HP each), two special high-speed propellers E-PROPS and 3 kWh of KOKAM Lithium-Polymer batteries (24 kg). “This flight has shown to key actors of [the] aeronautics world present at [the] Paris Air Show 2011 that electric engines are a real alternative …

E-Fenix, the Two-Seater Trike

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Anne Lavrand, Electravia’s General Manager, announced the E-Fenix, the first two-seat electric paratrike.  Developed with Planète Sports & Loisirs, a leisure activities company based on Re Island, off the coast of La Rochelle, France, the trike will carry visitors on discovery flights over the scenic island. E-Fenix has an electric propulsion system from Electravia, which includes a 35-horsepower GMPE 104 motor, an E-Props QD2 four-blade propeller, and a six kilowatt-hour Kokam Lithium-Polymer battery.  All is carried aloft on a 38-square-meter ITT Bulldog wing, which can fly 35 minutes with two persons aboard, and 55 minutes with only the pilot.  First flights took place on May 12th, with Michaël Morin as test pilot. Reported to be “very silent and comfortable,” the trike …