The GosHawk was conceived as an electric aircraft and technology has FINALLY caught up with it, according to designer Greg Cole. Its sailplane-like proportions allow it to fly with the smallest of power inputs, and real soaring is possible with the electric propulsion system completely shut down, Greg says. This author finds it suits its namesake with a sporty nature and a natural beauty. The GosHawk is also planned in two additional versions with internal combustion engines. The HKS 700E engine is a fuel-efficient two-cylinder unit seemingly ideal for motorgliders or touring gliders. His airplane with this engine’s 56 horsepower available can attain a 100 mile per hour cruise at a fuel consumption of 100 miles per gallon, or 200 passenger miles per gallon (pmpg). Greg also plans on using the ubiquitous Rotax in 85 BHP form. Its empty weight of 510 pounds with the HKS powerplant shows the skills Greg’s company, Windward Performance achieves with pre-impregnated carbon fiber layups. …
SolarStratos Construction to Begin in January
Just as we have competing teams working out their plans to cross the Atlantic on electrically-powered wings, several projects are aiming high, attempting to reach altitudes normally achieved only by SR-71 pilots. With balloon jumps topping 130,000 feet and the Perlan Project in final stages of construction for test flights early next year, the latest entrant in stratosphere-busting climbs will attempt the mission on batteries and solar power. Raphael Domjan, a self-described “eco-adventurer” and founder of Mission SolarStratos, will attempt by 2017 to top 80,000 feet in a two-seat, twin-motored craft designed and built by Calin Gologan and his PC-Aero team. The airplane, a long-winged derivation of Gologan’s Elektra Two Solar, will rely on recent developments between Gologan and his American Partner, George Bye. They’ve formed the American Electric Aircraft Corporation, dedicated to building, testing and certifying a two-seat trainer. Solar Stratos has a 24.4-meter (80.8 feet) wing, 7.4 meters (9.84 feet) longer than that on the longest-span Elektra Two. …
Green Speed Cup – Training Day is Over and Day One Establishes a Record
Happily for those of us who champion the idea of electric aircraft, the practice day and day one of the Green Speed Cup in Strausberg, Germany fetched a world electric aircraft distance record for e-Genius and an outstanding showing for all concerned. This beginning for the third running of the Cup sets a high standard for the coming days. The Green Speed Cup has elements of soaring flight through the use of thermals, careful speed flying that emphasizes fuel economy, and precise flight planning with attention to the planned route, winds aloft, and power settings. Green Speed Cup organizers map out a series of triangular routes to test the limits of piloting skills and airplane efficiency. As the organizers explain, it’s all pretty simple: “To fly ‘green’ you have to know how fast to fly and which power setting to use. This depends on the current wind-profile, on the current lift and on several other parameters like the aerodynamical properties.” …
Flying e-Genius for Two Years
At this year’s Electric Aircraft Symposium, Rudolf Voit Nitschmann, Len Schumann, and Ingmar Geiss shared their well-documented experiences with e-Genius, second place winner in 2011’s Green Flight Challenge. Flown by Erik Raymond and Klauss Ohlmann, the airplane managed 397.5 passenger miles per gallon on its 200-mile trek around a closed circuit between Santa Rosa, California and the distant geothermal power plants that provided the electricity for its flight. As Voit Nitschmann, leader of the e-Genius team since 2005 noted, one must design electric aircraft around the beneficial aspects of such vehicles to gain the greatest performance. Originally slated to be hydrogen powered, e-Genius mounts its 59-pound motor on the leading edge of the vertical rudder, more difficult with a heavier internal-combustion engine. This permits ample propeller clearance, provides blade protection and allows a short, retractable landing gear that is light and simple. With no turbulent flow over the nose, the cockpit can be streamlined like that of a sailplane and …