Electric Cri-Cri Crosses English Channel

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Michael Coates, the U. S. General Distributor for Pipistrel Aircraft, sent the following missive from Ivo Boscarol, General Manager and Founder of the Slovenian company, now in its 26th year. “Dear All, “It is my pleasure to inform you that our friend Hugues Duval after reading the information that Pipistrel was blocked in flying across the English Channel today became the first electric aircraft to cross the English Channel in his CRI-CRI E-Cristaline Electric aircraft. “As Duval already had the permanent permit to fly his aircraft there was no need to ask for a permit to fly over the English Channel, but only to fill the flight plan. It was possible to keep the flight information secret up to the end. “From the available information that we have, shortly after the flight announcement, an order was issued to stop him but he did not respect it and he successfully crossed the channel this evening, 9. July 2015 in the first flight …

Going After New Records and New Adventures

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, GFC, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Already holder of all the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) world records for light electric aircraft, Jean-Luc Soullier of AeroSkyLux has announced his latest endeavor, the Etlantic Project.  Since he achieved these records in a microlight MC-30 with a Lynch-type Electravia motor, he has searched for a higher-performance airplane and power system. SUB-CLASS TYPE OF RECORD PERFORMANCE DATE CLAIMANT STATUS ID RAL1E Speed over a straight course 189.87 km/h 2012-09-29 Jean Luc Soullier (BEL) ratified – current record 16638 RAL1E Altitude 2366 m 2012-02-27 Jean Luc Soullier (BEL) ratified – current record 16497 RAL1E Distance over a closed circuit without landing 50.13 km 2012-02-27 Jean Luc Soullier (BEL) ratified – current record 16496 RAL1E Speed over a closed circuit of 50 km 136.4 km/h 2012-02-27 Jean Luc Soullier (BEL) ratified – current record 16495 Working with Windward Performance in Bend, Oregon the Luxembourg-based organization has developed a version of the Duckhawk sailplane that will be “exclusively powered by clean energy.” According to the …

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 of seven kilowatts (9.38 horsepower) each, and two counter-rotating 1.3 meter (51.1875 inch) propellers made by E-Props, the 14 meter (46 feet), six meter high envelope navigates at a cruising speed of 15 kilometer per hour (9.3 mph). Its lithium …

Would You Believe There Are Four Electric Cri-Cri’s?

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Three electric MC-15 Colomban Cri-Cri’s have been flying for at least the last two years.  Jean-Luc Soullier created one which flew with Plettenberg model motors.  Airbus crafted one with four Rotex motors and counter-rotating propellers on each mount.  Anne Lavrand’s Electravia converted a Cri-Cri to use her motors for speed record attempts. Now they are joined by the MC-15E built by Mr. Toon Jacobs and shown at the Federation RSA ( Network of Sport Air ) Rally 2013 in Vichy, France.  The RSA, as one would guess, is the French equivalent of America’s Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). Electravia provided the E-Motor GMPE 104 motors, controllers, E=Helices 370 gram (one pound, 13 ounces), 83 centimeter (32.7 inches) propellers and the E-Batts 3 kilowatt-hour battery pack.  An Electravia E-Screen instrument monitors battery charge, temperature, and motor temperatures. Powerplants match those developed in 2010 for Cri-Cri Yankee Delta in which Hugues Duval set a world speed record for electric aircraft before a huge crowd at the 2011 Paris Air …

eUP Looks Up and Downloads Data

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John McClintock, co-founder of eUP Aviation in Lumby, British Columbia, recently spoke with your editor on changes he and Randy Rauck are making to their Electravia-powered hang-glider trike.  They’ve recently campaigned Green1 up and down the Pacific Coast, demonstrating its self-launching and soaring capabilities over California deserts, at Torrey Pines, and in the mountains of Oregon. John was pleased to report that the trike came through that 7,700 kilometer (4,774 mile) bouncing trailer torture test with a perfect bill of health for the e-drive system and its installation. Not content to just enjoy their flights (which they did) the entrepreneur-engineers kept careful records of the details of each flight using an on-board Flytec 5030 hang gliding instrument to collect flying data, and their custom-specified Electravia data display and recording option to capture information for the e-drive system.  eUP Aviation Inc. have expanded the raw data into a Digital Journey Log, which will allow customers to demonstrate the care and use …

Navette Brettone Carries On

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The April, 2013 issue of Info.Pilote magazine, a French publication, features the air-show pairing of the electric Cri-Cri E-Cristaline, powered by two Electravia GMPE 104 motors and riding atop a Broussard – what the DeHavilland Beaver might look like if it had been built in France. The great photos by Jean-Marie Urlacher are supplemented by a dynamic video showing a typical airshow lofting and separation – something that happens quickly even in slow motion. Info.Pilote has an informative table comparing the Navette Brettone (Brittany Shuttle), named for the sponsoring ferry boat operation, with the Navette Spatial, our space shuttle/Boeing 747-100 combo. While the big Boeing spans 196 feet, the Broussard is a relatively petite 45 feet.  The Space Shuttle riding on the 747 is a substantial 78 feet, while the tiny Cri-Cri is a mere 16 feet across. The different airplanes’ relative weights are even more revealing.  The 708,400 pound Boeing carries a 286,000 load: the 5,940 pound Broussard lofts …

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.  …

Can You Top These?

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation 1 Comment

Anne Lavrand of Electravia  sends news that Jean Luce Soullier’s speed record set last September has been ratified by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI).  He now holds four FAI world records, and Ms. Lavrand’s total climbs to five, including the speed record set by Hugues Duval flying the MC15E twin electric Cri-Cri down Le Bourget’s main runway at 283 km./hr. (175.46 mph) during the 2011 Paris Air Show. SUB-CLASS TYPE OF RECORD PERFORMANCE DATE CLAIMANT STATUS ID RAL1E Speed over a straight course 189.87 km/h 2012-09-29 Jean Luc Soullier (BEL) ratified – current record 16638 RAL1E Altitude 2366 m 2012-02-27 Jean Luc Soullier (BEL) ratified – current record 16497 RAL1E Distance over a closed circuit without landing 50.13 km 2012-02-27 Jean Luc Soullier (BEL) ratified – current record 16496 RAL1E Speed over a closed circuit of 50 km 136.4 km/h 2012-02-27 Jean Luc Soullier (BEL) ratified – current record 16495 Soullier hit 189.87 kilometers per hour (117.72 mph) in his …

A Fix for Dreamliner Battery Woes?

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation 1 Comment

With Boeing facing financial doldrums because of its ongoing grounding and resulting slump in sales of the 787 Dreamliner, the stakes are high for the company.  That makes today’s Reuters’ report that the manufacturing giant may have found a “way to fix battery problems on its grounded 787 Dreamliner jets” good news for not only Boeing, but for electric aircraft in general.  Readers should read these findings with some caution, though, since another report from Japan gives a different possible cause for the problems.  That said, the two reports might not be mutually exclusive. Many electric light aircraft developers use spacing between cells and some method to circulate cooling air over them.  In Boeing’s two 787 lithium battery packs, eight large cells fill a fairly tight housing.  Reuters quotes an anonymous source, “’The gaps between cells will be bigger. I think that’s why there was overheating,’ said the source, who declined to be identified because the plans are private. “A …

Fifth Anniversary for Electravia Ultralight’s First Flight

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation 2 Comments

Anne Lavrand, founder and head of Electravia, has over 35 different electric aircraft to her credit, having powered everything from paramotors to a world speed record-holding Cri-Cri  and a speed and altitude record-claiming MC-30. The story officially began five years ago today, though, with a 48-minute flight by an ultralight Souricette, a Michael Barry design with an Electravia-prepared Lynch brushed motor, golf-cart type controller and lithium polymer batteries . In an article from The Times of London, it was given credit as the, “First flight in a conventional light aircraft powered by an electric motor,” and as such a model of frugality.  Barry’s airplane, motor, and batteries might set an owner/builder back 10,000 to 15,000 euros ($13,000 to $19,500) and cost about one euro ($1.30) per hour to fly.  Ms. Lavrand has continued to demonstrate that such a simple setup can provide reliable, inexpensive service with her ongoing work in her own shop and developments with various designers. Electra flew …