Plettenberg is well known in the model airplane world for its large and powerful electric motors that pull or push giant-scale models – sometimes half the size of their real counterparts – into the air. Brian Carpenter of Rainbow Aviation is even using them on his EMG-5 and EMG-6 ultralight aircraft. Jean-Luc Soullier had two of them on an electric Cri-Cri. His forum details that adventure and subsequent projects. These Predator motors weigh a little over four pounds and can put out 15 horsepower and up to 99 pounds of thrust with the right propeller. Going beyond their model motors, Plettenberg has bold thoughts to share about its new, bigger and less model-like units, including their 150 kilowatt Nova series motor. “The guiding principle for the development of the Nova series was the creation and development of a completely new product and not the development of existing systems. “Combining intelligently selected materials and components together with innovative, ground-breaking geometries made …
A Tale of Three Pauls
Dr. Paul Robertson lectures at Cambridge University’s Engineering Department, and Paul Dewhurst serves as Director and Chief Flying Instructor at Flylight Airsports, Ltd. The two Pauls made simultaneous takeoffs March 1, 2009 in Britain’s first two electric aircraft. A third Paul, Welsh by name, acted as certification engineer for the effort. Dr. Robertson took to the skies in a Dragonfly hang glider powered by a Geiger/Eck 10kW motor/controller/propeller combination, while Dewhurst became skyborne in a Lazair ultralight propelled by a pair of Plettenberg Predator 12 kW (peak output) model airplane motors. This testbed in particular reflects Dr. Roberton’s studies toward the constuction of a sub-115 kg electric twin called Hummingbird. His PowerPoint presentation shows the mathematics of powering such a craft on model aircraft motors, the batteries required, and the anticipated and tested thrust for successful performance. The fact that practical outcomes matched mathematical projections attests to the care involved in his analysis. The presentation provides a good model for others who …