EMG-6 Takes First Hops

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation 1 Comment

Brian Carpenter of Adventure Aircraft Inc. (part of his Rainbow Aviation Company) must trust his engineering, since he acted as his own test pilot for the first flights of his EMG-6 ultralight glider, a craft with options of mounting one, two, three (or even four, as Brian suggests) electric motors.  As an ultralight motor glider it can carry a pilot, ballistic parachute, and a small powerpack with one motor, controller and batteries.  Depending on the pilot’s weight, the airplane might be able to self launch and reach soaring altitude, or for heavier payloads, use the motor as a sustainer unit after a ground or aircraft tow to seek out distant thermals. While waiting for this next development, look at the number three test flight, towed from the runway by a “quad” all-terrain vehicle (ATV) and on landing demonstrating a remarkably short landing roll into only a 9-mph wind. Currently favored, the Plettenberg Predator motor and a Schulze 400-Amp motor controller …