Day three of the Green Speed Cup in Strausberg, Germany brought few surprises other than how fuel efficient all of the aircraft turned out to be, especially considering they are all powered by gasoline engines. Normally, this would demonstrate that even a light machine uses large amounts of fuel, but this contest demonstrated the benefits of good design and careful piloting. The Akaflieg Darmstadt D39 flown by Holger Massow came in first, winning the last two days outright. Second went to Hans-Peter Ortwein flying a Stemme SV-10T, and third, perhaps surprisingly, to the only two-stroke powered machine, a Technoflug Piccolo, a fixed-gear, high-wing motorglider with an engine sticking up behind the wing. The Piccolo was flown by Werner Scholz. Two Valentin Taifuns came in fourth and fifth, and a Stemme S6 took sixth place. Two Scheibe SF-25s, a B and C model, took seventh and eighth places respectively. A Fournier RF-5 captured ninth place and another SF-25-C rounded out the …
The 2015 Green Speed Cup
Robert Adam writes to let the CAFE Foundation know that the 2015 Green Speed Cup is underway, just now finishing its second of three days of competition. Think of a Green Flight Challenge with a need for green speed balanced against a need for economical use of energy. Taking place out of Strausberg Airport in Germany, the event consists of three days of tasks which always bring the competitors back home ever day. “Every task comes with a minimum energy consumption. It will be derived from the energy used by a reference airplane on 10% of the tasks length at MCP. Combustion and electric aircraft use different reference airplanes. Class definitions All aircraft capable of taking off under own power, are allowed in the following classes: Electric – Class (but alas, no entrants this year) Electrical driven aircraft All aircraft with one to four seats Up to 2700 kg ( MTOW 5950 lbs) Maximum task distance of 400 km (216 …