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 3,000 meters (9,840 feet) of five minutes, 32 seconds, and maintaining an altitude of 4,439 meters (14,564 feet) in horizontal flight. Chip achieved two speed records, reaching an average of 324.02 kilometers per hour (201 mph) in four passes over …
Human-Powered Helicopter Prize Almost Within Reach
The goals seem so simple… These are the requirements for winning the A. H. Sikorsky Prize for a successful human-powered helicopter (HPH). • Build a helicopter powered only by human means • Lift off and achieve a hover time of 60 seconds • Achieve a height of 3 meters sometime during the 60 second flight • Stay within a 10 square meter area during the 60 second flight Toward those goals, the Gamera Project involves students of the Clark School of Engineering and faculty advisors from the Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft Center in the Clark School’s Department of Aerospace Engineering. Their Gamera II flew in June and August this year and was designed by students to make an official flight duration record attempt on the Sikorsky Prize for the first human-powered helicopter to exceed a minute duration and fly at an altitude of 10 feet. According the Gamera Project web site, “On August 9, 2012, NAA (National Association of Aeronautics) announced that …
Pipistrel G4 Nominated for Collier Trophy
Taja Boscarol, Public Relations Manager for Pipistrel, sends this news today: “The Pipistrel Taurus G4, world’s first 4-seat electric aircraft, was nominated for the prestigious Collier Trophy. “The Collier Trophy, the ‘Greatest Award in Aviation,’ has been the benchmark of aviation and aerospace achievement for over 100 years. Awarded annually, ‘…for the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America,’ it has been bestowed upon some of the most important projects, programs, individuals, and accomplishments in our nation’s history.” Collier-winning individuals have included the crews of Apollo 11 and 8, Mercury 7, Scott Crossfield, Elmer Sperry and Howard Hughes. Projects and Programs have included the B-52, Polaris Missile, Surveyor Moon Landing Program, Boeing 747, Cessna Citation, Gulfstream V, the F-22 and the International Space Station. This year’s nominees for the 2011 Robert J. Collier Trophy are Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, the Lockheed C-5M Super Galaxy, the Gamera human-powered helicopter, and the G4. National Aeronautics Association Chairman Walter J. Boyne explains the …