With over 30 electrical flight exhibitors at Friedrichshafen, Germany’s Aero 2010 International Exposition for General Aviation, selection of this year’s E-Flight Award winner must have been particularly difficult. The”E”of the E-Flight portion of the huge show represents, “Electrical, Ecological and Evolutionary.” Thevenot’s machine is all those. Gérard Thevenot flew his hydrogen-powered ultralight “trike” across the English Channel in July, 2009 (“Man of La Manche”, October 29, 2009), with a Geiger/Eck HP-10 electric motor powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, “without the onboard presence of an accumulator or battery.” Showing his 55 kilogram (121 pounds), seven kilowatt (11 horsepower), 12 meter (37 feet) span ultralight at last year’s Expo, he went on to demonstrate its capabilities in the following months. Its light weight allows a consumption of only 550 grams per flight hour, and the craft’s 5-liter tank allows about one hour flying time. In an environmentally friendly hint of its passing, the craft leaves behind only a mist of water …
A Great Year and Gala Day for Yuneec
Last year, we knew Yuneec for its tidy power package for paramotors, the 10 kW EPac. We were awaiting developments on the EP200, a twin-motored, single-place ultralight that looked as though it would be powered by two EPac units. Springtime, 2009 brought the news that a two-seater was under development, and summer brought surprise after surprise. The 40 kW (54 horsepower) E430 made its first flights on June 12, 2009, followed by further testing on June 20. Test pilot Sun Xun managed two flights of 15 minutes, achieving a top speed of 150 kilometers per hour (93 mph) a climb rate of 7 meters per second (1,377 feet per minute), and a maximum altitude of 300 meters (960 feet). Sun commented on the quiet and smooth nature of motor operation. The prototype was quickly bundled up and shipped to Camarillo, California, where test pilot Dave Morss and members of EAA Chapter 723 gave the airplane a more stringent shakedown, in …
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