After the disastrous tornadic storm that blew through the area last Thursday, Lakeland was blessed with warm, then hot, picture book Florida weather and good crowds, right up through final day Sunday, as the fabulous Blue Angels, a stunning demo by the Air Force F22 Raptor, Patty Wagstaff’s always-incredible acro routine, and the Aeroshell T-6 squadron doing its thing: always great to see those (noisy but iconic) big old WWII trainers do such graceful, precision loops and rolls in formation through the sky, leaving billows of white smoke to mark their path.I was a bit under the weather last night so no blog…knew I shouldn’t have eaten that chicken…but back at it today to fly with Bill Cox as he previewed Garmin’s exciting new GTN touch screen technology. *** Then pounding the sneaker rubber to finish up the rounds of the five exhibit hangars and survey new products and gadgets. I even bought myself some oil-filled insoles to calm my throbbing tootsies…one ends up walking miles and miles at these airshows, unless you can pop $60/day or more to rent a small personal electric cart.
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Electric Power — Getting Closer to LSA Usage?
Randall Fishman’s ElectraFlyer Trike pumped me up. As a trike enthusiast, my real interest is soaring. A lightweight trike with an electric motor offers real advantages (see my earlier SPLOG).
I want to climb high enough to find lift, shut off the power, and hop from thermal to thermal. To me, that’s pure flying! An electric motor starts up readily if you lose the lift. It doesn’t vibrate. It doesn’t have smelly fuel or oil. It’s quiet, other than a bit of prop noise. But was it powerful enough?
With his second project, Randall has again motivated me. The Moni he renamed ElectraFlyer C is a motor glider at heart. Again, an electric powerplant sounds perfect.
“You can fly for an hour and a half on less than $1.00 of power”…and that assumes you keep the power on. Randall and I will look each other up in Florida this winter and I’ll investigate for a further report.
Electricity In The Air!
All-electric airplane fans, this’ll stand your hair on end! Next month’s 2010 EAA Airventure at Oshkosh, WI – easily the biggest air show in America every year – will feature activities focusing on the most exciting developments in electric flight all week long. *** Visitors to the show will find display booths, daily forums and demonstration flights out on the flight line. Can you say…Zap!? *** And on July 30 there’s a major event: Airventure’s World Symposium on electric-powered flight. The day-long discussion will cover all aspects on the future of electric aviation. *** Check out who’s on the panel of moderators of aviation industry leaders: * legendary Scaled Composites founder Burt Rutan * Electric Aircraft Corporation founder and electric flight pioneer Randall Fishman (currently working on ElectraFlyer-X two-seat S-LSA * Yuneec International founder Tian Yu (Yuneec made a sensation at Oshkosh ’09 with its two-place E430 electric LSA), * FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt * Sonex Aircraft founder John Monnett * Earthstar Aircraft founder Mark Beierle, whose eGull ultralight displayed at AirVenture ’09 * Erik Lindbergh, who launched an Electric Aircraft Prize through his Lindbergh Foundation at Sun ‘n Fun this year.
Sonex Electric Airplane & ElectraFlyer Trike
Green Tech is hot in Silicon Valley. Electric power-augmented and flex-fuel cars are selling well. Why not alternative energy Light-Sport Aircraft? Two companies showed electric airplanes at AirVenture 2007. *** Sonex revealed their own green technologies including a full-electric Waiex with a 200-amp motor that is 90 percent efficient and operates on 270 volts of direct current. The motor was manufactured in-house by Sonex and uses 80 lithium polymer battery packs which the company believes will allow one hour flights. The electric Waiex is part of the Sonex eFlight initiative which also includes ethanol-based fuels in their AeroVee combustion engine. *** In the Part 103 ultralight category, Randall Fishman is already flying his 100% electric-powered ElectraFlyer trike. Electric motors as airplane powerplants carry several advantages, notes Randall: “No engine vibration or maintenance; no carbon buildup, no top or major overhauls, no carb adjustments, no handling smelly gasoline and oil.” The batteries alone on the ElectraFlyer trike cost $7,500 for a 1.5 hour duration but the entire trike, wing and all, is about $17,000.
Spring Buzzzzz…
Everybody laments the high cost of LSA ownership: here’s an alternative…especially if you like true bugs-in-teeth aviating like our winged forefathers…uh, and foremothers of course…er, forepersons? Sheesh. Staying PC is so last week. *** Manfred Ruhmer, the German hang glider world champion and one-time distance record holder of 435 miles (current record is 444 mi.!), has been working on his own electric-powered trike – named the Icaro 2000 Pit-Trike. *** Chalk up that curious name to translation from the Italian. Maybe it grabs the air like a pit bull? Icaro’s price page calls it Nano Trike – take your pick! *** BTW, a “trike” is a wheeled undercarriage, powered by a pusher-prop powerplant, that allows a conventional foot-launched (or aero-towed) hang glider to fly under its own power. *** The trike unit without hang glider wing lists between $11,000 and $15,000 US, reports my pal Dan Johnson, before shipping, *** and you still have to add your own hang glider – another $3K to $6K.