Making Like a Canary in the Canaries

Dean Sigler Batteries, Electric Aircraft Components, Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Thomas Senkel has gained fame for flying an unlikely-looking multiple rotor helicopter with a Pilates exercise ball landing gear and helping drive through that design to a far more refined Volocopter VC200, which we reported has just become the first certified electric helicopter in Germany Knowing how to get the most out of very little, Senkel skipped the usual “crow-hops” performed by experimental test pilots and instead took a 46-minute ride over La Palma in the Canary Islands with his electric scooter/paraglider combination.  The six kilowatt (eight horsepower) hub motor took him up a long hill to the high launch point and the 13.5 kW (18 hp) FlyTech motor launched him into the air for a long flight to the beach below.  In either mode, the vehicles uses little energy, doesn’t pollute, and is quiet enough to be allowed in areas where noisy engines would not be permitted. The first prototype of a flyable electric scooter, Skyrider One is a …