A Pulitzer Written in the Sky

Dean Sigler Announcements, Batteries, Electric Powerplants, Fuel Cells, GFC, Hydrogen Fuel, Solar Power, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Itching to test your electric airplane’s cross-country capabilities?  A new Pulitzer Electric Air Race of over 1,000 nautical miles (1,150.78 statute miles to be exact) between Nebraska and North Carolina will show who has the fastest electric flying machine. Jim Moore, reporting for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), shows the connection between the original Pulitzer Trophy and today’s electric competition.  “Five of the first six pilots to have their names engraved on the Pulitzer Trophy were military airmen clocked around a closed course at speeds starting at 157 mph in 1920, up to a blistering 248 mph by 1925. The trophy was created to inspire innovation, and particularly faster airplanes. That vintage trophy housed at the Smithsonian National …

Firefly Flies with New Motor and Who Knows What Else?

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Jean-Luc Soullier and Roman Marcinowski forge ahead on two fronts to set electric flight records.  Longer term, we hope to see first flights of their motorized Windward Performance Duckhawk, modified for long-distance flights and a crossing of the Atlantic Ocean – perhaps as early as next year. In the meantime, they are putting the finishing touches on their already record-setting Colomban MC-30 Luciole (Firefly), now with its third motor, significantly larger and more powerful than previous powerplants.  Making an initial test flight on October 30, Jean-Luc managed an impressive climb rate, even at partial power. Last year, the team stated their hoped-for records to come. Our next targets are : Spring/Summer 2014 New FAI world records : – Speed : minimum …

Chip Yates’ Records Ratified by FAI

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

With recognition this week of five electric airplane records set by Chip Yates in flights last year, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) and the National Aeronautic Association (NAA) ratified performance numbers that top those of most single-engine high-performance gasoline-powered aircraft from established manufacturers, according to Yates.  Your editor was on hand for the California Capital Airshow last October to see Chip take his Long-ESA to 500 meters (1,640 feet) from a standing start in only 62.58 seconds, 17 seconds faster than the previous record set by a fossil-fuel burner. The new records were really set last year between September and November and have just been ratified. They include an altitude of 4,481 meters (14,701 feet), a time to climb to …

An Electric Altitude Record in Short Sleeves

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation 1 Comment

Gary Davis of Greenville, South Carolina set a world altitude record for electric trikes, about the simplest of powered flying machines.  His flight to 4,790 feet above mean sea level (under 4,000 feet above ground level) exceeded his hope to reach at least 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) and puts him and power system provider Randall Fishman in the record books, at least when the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) ratifies the numbers. Davis, a managing director in Nachman Norwood & Parrot Wealth Management Consultancy in Greenville, has that affiliation discreetly emblazoned on his North Wing Stratus wing.  The company, possibly because of Davis’s interest, has 25 kilowatts of solar panels helping power its offices, and Davis and wife Deborah Meadows both …