AEAC Debuts Sun Flyer at AirVenture 2014

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

Calin Cologan and George Bye staged a joint press event on the Sunday evening before AirVenture started.  Held in the Redbird Tent on Wittman Field, it drew hundreds who saw the Redbird flight simulators and a Diesel-powered Cessna, but were stopped short by the yellow and blue Sun Flyer, a single-seat proof-of-concept version of what will soon be a two-seat battery/solar training aircraft. Forming a new firm based on the strengths of PC-Aero in Germany, and Bye Aerospace and Redbird Flight Simulators in America, they promise an electric training aircraft for the near future.  Unlike the tandem two-seaters PC-Aero is developing in Germany, American Electric Aircraft Corporation will produce a side-by-side craft, often preferred for communication between instructor and student. In this Da Vinci Institute presentation, George Bye discusses the keys to performance for his aircraft, which include clean aerodynamics, high efficiency, a light carbon structure, and solar energy.  Nest will come a “big performance step – endurance” – and possible perpetual flight …

PC-Aero Introduces Solar Elektra One, Solar Trailer

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, GFC, Sustainable Aviation 3 Comments

Dr. Birgit Weißenbach, press and marketing director for the firm, announces that PC-Aero and Calin Gologan will appear at the ILA (Internationale Luft- und Raumfahrtausstellung, or International Aerospace Exhibition) Berlin Air Show being held between September 11 and 16 at Roger Airfield, about 11 miles southeast of the city. They will be showing, for the first time, their operational Electric Flight System, comprising their electric and solar-powered Elektra One Solar aircraft and a mobile solar charging station, the trailer in which the motorglider can be transported. Dr. Weißenbach notes that “At the Aero in Friedrichshafen/Germany this year we presented only a mock-up of the Elektra One Solar (Editor’s Note: as they did at AirVenture 2011, showing only stuck on, but not connected solar cells on the shorter Elektra One wing).” The ILA will see the debut of the aircraft with greater span, higher aspect ratio, and a laminar airfoil. Calin Gologan explains, “We do not have to wait for new …

PC-Aero Wins Lindbergh Electric Aircraft Vision Award

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

A Green Flight Challenge entrant, PC-Aero’s Elektra One, has won the Lindbergh Electric Aircraft Vision Award at AirVenture 2011 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, becoming the latest winner of this important award for innovation in the pursuit of “green” aviation. Past winners of the Lindbergh Prize for Electric Aircraft include: Pipistrel: 2011 Aero-Friedrichshafen Best  Electric Aircraft LZ Design: 2011 Aero-Friedrichshafen Best  Electric Propulsion System Solar Impulse: 2011 Aero-Friedrichshafen  Outstanding Achievement Award Yuneec International: 2010 AirVenture Best  Electric Aircraft Sonex: 2010 AirVenture Best Electric Aircraft  Subsystem Lange Aviation: 2010 AirVenture Individual  Achievement Award According to Erik Lindbergh, grandson of Charles Lindbergh and founder of LEAP, the organization’s, “Programs recognize, inspire and incentivize the innovation that drives our culture, economy and future.  The LEAP Electric Flight Program is accelerating the development of the electric aircraft industry through a range of activities, from prizes to advocacy.” This year’s award, “Focuses on innovation with a “vision” for integrated electric power for an aircraft and its supporting …

Elektra One Flies Into Oshkosh with Solar Cells

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, GFC, Sustainable Aviation 1 Comment

As described before in this blog, PC-Aero’s Elektra One is a single-seat electric airplane with an Eck/Geiger 13.5 kilowatt motor in the nose, and now at least partially solar powered. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r03nim-6qBw&feature=related Designer Calin Gologan gives a walkthrough of the design features which make Elektra One such an efficient airplane, and one likely to give other competitors in the Green Flight Challenge a good run.  While he describes the thin carbon-fiber shells which comprise the airplane’s primary structure, notice the light shining through.  That thinness helps explain Elektra One’s 100 kilogram (220 pounds) empty weight, only about 100 pounds of which is structure.  The motor is 4.7 kilogram (10.34 pounds) and the controller is a 270 gram (9-1/2 ounce) model airplane marvel.  Batteries can add up to 100 kilograms and the pilot another 100 kilograms, making the strength-to-weight ratio of the craft rather impressive, and its payload carrying abilities among the greatest for flying machines. Gologan claims a maximum range of 500 …