Electric Colt Introduced at Oshkosh

Dean Sigler Announcements, Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Texas Aircraft hails from its development and production facility at South Texas Regional Airport in Hondo, Texas.  Designed in Brazil, their Colt Light Sport Aircraft is built by American veterans.  Constrained by LSA design criteria, the craft is the high-wing representation of what we have come to expect from the Pipistrel Alpha Trainer, the Vashon Ranger, and others of the type.   It has the almost mandatory Rotax engine, but will soon fly fume-free with a Siemens motor. With the two-seat aircraft already flight tested in Brazil and its American version being built and flown here, the Colt’s introduction at AirVenture included a glimpse of its alternate power plant, a Siemens SP-55D producing 72 kilowatts (96.5 horsepower) AT 3,000 rpm. Matheus …

EAS VIII: Pipistrel’s Certifiable Hybrid Aircraft

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

No hype, Pipistrel’s Hypstair (hipster) was introduced by Tine Tomazic and Gregor Veble at this year’s Electric Aircraft Symposium.  The attempt to bring the world’s first certified hybrid aircraft to market is a joint venture by Pipistrel with partners Siemens, the University of Maribor, the University of Pisa and MB Vision, a specialist in providing visual information. Siemens, as might be imagined, is providing an “ultra-light weight integrated drive train” for the aircraft,”  Slovenia’s University of Maribor the HIL (hardware in the loop) evaluation for electric motor control testing and dynamic emulation of mechanical loads, Italy’s University of Pisa for evaluation of hybrid technology advantages, and MB Vision for development and integration of the aircraft’s interior and human machine interfaces …

Pipistrel Shares Three New Products and Springs a Surprise

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, GFC, Sustainable Aviation 2 Comments

Slovenia, a tiny country which can be seen in its entirety from a light airplane, makes an astonishing array of such vehicles at the Pipistrel factory, awarded a European Union prize as the epitome of green manufacturing facilities. The company uses solar energy to power its operation and reports the number of kilowatts flowing through its plant on its web site. Naturally, we’d expect an environmentally responsible firm to build environmentally responsible products, and Pipistrel is committed to going green.  Dr. Gregor Veble, Head of Research in the Research and Development Department; and Tine Tomažič, researcher and designer, shared a multiplicity of new products and gave an all-too-brief glimpse of a surprising future project with participants at the seventh annual …