Jack Faust, a hang-glider pioneer, recently informed your editor of this British back-pack flying pioneer. Tony Canderton of Electric Paramotor UK has created a twin-motored parachute that uses stock aluminum extrusions and model aircraft components to take him flying. As noted on his web site, “Most of the parts used are pretty easy to come by, taken from giant scale RC and the frame is aluminum. No welding was used – just nylon lock nuts and bolts. The whole unit weighs in at just over 19 kilos (41.8 pounds) with batteries and harness and puts out 27 kilos (59.4 pounds) of static thrust.” Motors are EMP model XYH80-100-As, each capable of producing a peak 6,500 Watts (8.7 horsepower) from a 1.75 kilogram (3.85 pounds) unit. These have a 12 millimeter (1/2-inch) shaft, a bit more substantial than some model motors and aiding their purpose in turning direct drive propellers. EMPs seem to be available in England only, but cost a …
Thrust Testing Wingtip Puffers
Oliver Garrow, President of Garrow Aircraft, LLC in Mountain View, California, has been developing the Verticopter® concept for the last several years, and made a dinner presentation on his design at last year’s Electric Aircraft Symposium. Garrow’s Verticopter uses pivoting motors to provide vertical and horizontal thrust, with tip and tail thrusters fine tuning low-speed maneuvering capabilities. Verticopters will come in all sizes, with a single-seater ultralight as an entry-level machine and an inexpensive way to test the concept, especially when one uses a low-cost model aircraft motor unit from Turnigy (distributed by HobbyKing in Hong-Kong, P/N CA120-70), and a SPIN 300 Optically-isolated electronic speed controller (ESC) from Jeti for power – at least for the wing-tip thrusters. The motor shown costs a mere $299 for its promised 20 horsepower, while similar German and American units run over $1,000, with similarly high prices for controllers. Testing shown in the video was carried out with lithium-polymer battery packs arranged in a 16S2P configuration …