Electric Prototype and Pilot Lost

Martin Wezel, left and Tian Yu.  Behind is the tandem-powered E1000.

As I write an article on the current state of electric flight worldwide, sad word comes that prolific, talented German aeronautical engineer Martin Wezel has died in the crash of the prototype Yuneec International E1000 electric airplane.
Wezel's company, Flugzeugtechnik Wezel, was well respected for its gliders and microlights, which included the Sting and Sirius S-LSAs.  His Apis and Viva designs were also being developed by Yuneec for electric power.
The E1000 design may also have been Wezel's.
A new, tandem-motored four-seat design, it was being developed for market by Yuneec but also to compete in the NASA CAFE Green Flight Challenge, the $1.65 million-prize competition I've been writing about here that's coming up in July.
It was also entered in EAA's upcoming Electric Aircraft Competition (Oshkosh 2011 in late July).  Not evident at this point is whether another E1000 was built or will be tested.
Details are sketchy for what was just the airplane's second flight.  Launching from Yuneec's home airport in southern China, it suffered a catastrophic failure of the tail section at 130 feet altitude just seconds later.  The empennage, which was possibly of a V-tail configuration as seen in the photo above and similar to the company's E430 electric two-seat LSA tail, was "caused by ground testing"according to Yuneec's Chairman Tian Yu.
The aircraft reportedly crashed into a lake next to the runway.  Wezel died two hours later at a local hospital.
The ballistic parachute system on board may have been deployed.  It likely would not have had enough altitude to completely deploy: most ballistic airframe "saves" occur at a minimum of 400 feet.
Mr. Yu eulogized Wezel on the company website:
“I, personally, feel extremely sorry to have lost Martin.  He was an extremely competent collaborator and most of all a very dear friend. Martin's passion for flying was a constant inspiration to all.  My deepest sympathies and condolences to Petra, Martin's wife, the Wezel family and all who knew and worked with Martin Wezel.”
We echo Mr. Yu's comments in extending our condolences to Martin Wezel's family and friends.

REMOS Aircraft sends out advance word that its new GX NXT will debut at Oshkosh this year. 
The current GX Aviator II model will not be replaced: this new NXT version reflects a new instrument panel and price (base: $129,961, a significant drop from the Aviator II).

REMOS GX NXT: new panel, lower price

Dynon's SkyView, as with an ever-expanding number of other LSA, provides the anchor point for the streamlined new deck, which has been reworked to bring more leg room and better visibility over the nose to the cockpit.
SkyView's ever-upgrading software suite combines

 Panel drawing w/optional two
SkyView panel and Garmin 696   

EFIS/EMS/ Synthetic Vision/ Transponder in one unit.  An optional second SkyView installation is available as well as Garmin 696 and Dynon autopilot.
The GX NXT will offer com or nav/com and a wide range of exterior paint schemes.
The GX is a lovely airplane to fly.  I like the folding wing capability of the GX too.  You can also fly with the doors completely off the airplane: lots of fun on those balmy spring, summer and fall days to ahead.
REMOS quotes an empty weight of 718 pounds and a useful load of 602 lbs. (470 with full fuel), which they claim is tops in the industry.
The airframe, performance and handling are the same as the Aviator II.
Delivery is quoted at 90 days and they're taking orders now.
The GX is made in Germany.
         []  illustration and photos courtesy REMOS Aircraft

LSA in the News

In this post there's both good news and bad news.

First up: blog reader Pete Zaitcev commented on my blog yesterday that the Front Range Airport (FTG) visit, on May 14, by the LSA Tour #3 will coincide with the Rocky Mountain LSA Expo.
FTG is about 25 miles east of Denver at Watkins, CO.  The event is sponsored by the Colorado Pilots Assoc.
Looks like a fun time and a smart call for the Tour to plan a stop there.  Thanks Pete!

Cessna is on track to ship 150 Skycatchers this year

More good news:  Cessna Aircraft delivered 106 aircraft in the first quarter, up from 80 a year ago, and much of the increase comes from deliveries of the 19 Skycatchers.  Cessna's Bob Stangarone has told me the company expects to have delivered 150 by year's end.
The unhappy news concerns two LSA crashes.
A PiperSport crash cost a young CFI his life in Florida.  Various news reports citing eyewitnesses indicated a possible in-flight fire, flat spin, loss of a wing in flight and the crash, with subsequent fire and secondary explosion.
The pilot's body was found 3/4 miles from the crash.  That and personal effects strewn between the crash site and the pilot's body indicate he either bailed out of the airplane without a parachute, or was ejected during flight -- horrific to contemplate either way.  The pilot was reportedly a skydiver.
Since all PiperSports during their brief manufacture under the Piper banner were delivered with airframe parachutes, inflight fire remains a compelling possibility for the crash.

Sad and sobering: condolences to the surviving family of the 24-year-old pilot.

A happier ending to another crash involves a Flight Design CT that struck a telephone guy-wire during an emergency landing on a country road in the South...and lost the entire right wing!

The good news is the pilot survived, as reported by Steven Jones for WSPA-TV (CBS) in northwestern South Carolina, after the plane ended up nosing into a ditch.  The plane is owned by Major Dude's Flying Circus of Wilmington, DE.
Jones writes that no one was injured.  "After the plane," the web story says, "a Flight Design CT model, took off...the pilot called Augusta Control and reported a 'rough running' engine.
Later, the pilot called and said he was experiencing engine failure and going down.
Two people were on board when the plane made it’s crash landing. A wing snapped off on a guy line of a nearby utility pole."
The CT is an all-composite airplane and, clearly, its cabin offers reassuring crash protection.

LSA Tour #3 Does Colorado Tomorrow

Dave Graham of Legend Aircraft just sent out word that the next LSA Tour launches tomorrow for a 4-day swing up the front range of the Colorado Rockies.  See the list of locations below.
"We've adopted the four-day format," says Dave.  "The six-day tour is just too tiring."

     Reporting on the Tour's recent swing through the Southeast, Dave reports about 250 people came out to the Greenville, SC location.  There was a restaurant, good support from the hosting FBO, and "some business was done that day."
     Not all the venues were as cooperative as they could have been, he says, but considers this a work in progress and expects advanced planning will help sharpen up the logistics and overall experience down the road.
Here's a link to my blurb on the first Tour, which lists the participating LSA dealers.  Each dealer brings a demo airplane which gives potential customers a great opportunity to strap on the aircraft and compare apples to apples -- which can be a challenge at major airshows, with aircraft booths spread all over the place amid the background noise of other aviation attractions.
Good luck folks on your third LSA Tour!

                    LSA TOUR #3 SCHEDULE

[] Thursday, May 12, 2011
Fort Collins-Loveland Municipal Airport
Fort Collins / Loveland, Colorado - KFNL

[] Friday, May 13, 2011
Centennial Airport
Denver, Colorado - KAPA

[] Saturday, May 14, 2011
Front Range Airport
Denver, Colorado - KFTG

[] Sunday, May 15, 2011
Meadow Lake Airport
Colorado Springs, Colorado - KFLY

Electric Race Update: CAFE-Bound!

Picking up my electric aircraft coverage again with an email from Phoenix Air USA kingpin Jim Lee with the latest updates on the PhoEnix electric motorglider NASA/CAFE race entry, which just came out of the paint shop and has all its pretty parts put together...and a beautimous bird she is indeed.

Built for slipping through the air: the PhoEnix electric motorglider.

"We put the PhoEnix together," Jim tells me, "my last day in Czech so we could finally see what it looks like.  Man am I excited now!  I can't believe that I will be the one to fly such an amazing ship."
Color me green with envy.  
Jim's deep and broad soaring background should stand him in good stead tweaking every last ounce of performance from the gorgeous, one-off soaring bird.
He's also got a few more details on his Phoenix blog.  Here are some highlights: 

View from tail: Gear retracts up into normal baggage area.

Conceived for the NASA CAFE Green Flight Challenge..."A race that offers big bucks for the winner ($1.65 million total), but with a bar set so high that it is unlikely that anyone will win it. But if any aircraft can do it, the PhoEnix can!"

Electric motor installation.

Check out that shadow for a sense of the high aspect ratio.  Photo: Jim Lee

[] A modified Schempp- Hirth Discus wing installed as a shoulder wing to make room for the 
retractible gear. 
[] Gear electrically driven.  Swings back into the wheel wells (the baggage compartment of the original Phoenix.)

Photo courtesy Jim Lee

 [] wings 14.5M (47.5 ft.) span, optimized for the 100mph minimum required speed for the 200 mile race course.
[] race begins July 10 no. of San Francisco. 

Next post, I'll have a rundown, with pictures, of one of the PhoEnix's top competitors, the Pipistrel Taurus 4 twin-fuselage electric racer!


And here's Jim beaming at the end of Sun 'n Fun last month after receiving the Outstanding Fixed Wing Light Sport Aircraft Award.  
Congrats James, it's a worthy winner for sure!

Flight Design 4-Seater Heading To Market

Although this isn't an LSA story per se, it comes out of Flight Design, the top-notch, top-selling LSA company in America, so I thought you'd be interested to know the company debuted its C4 4-seater at AERO last month and just came out today with some pricing and delivery numbers along with some specs.
Perhaps the most interesting number to me is the $250,000 "target" price for the American market, along with a  €220.000 price for Europe and the rest of the world outside the U.S.
When's the last time we saw a new, state-of-the-art 4-seat airplane at a price close to that?
Also noteworthy is the minimal disparity between the overseas and U.S. prices, reflecting the company's desire to minimize (yea verily, to almost negate!) the currently soaring euro/dollar exchange rate imbalance.

Artist's rendering of the C4.  It's not your grandfather's CTLS.  Image courtesy Flight Design.

Some interesting details about the all-carbon fiber composite airplane:
[] Engine choice: two engine options to best suit fuel availability and cost in the owner's region: either a traditional aviation engine that can run on auto fuel, or a turbo diesel engine that burns Jet A fuel. Actual engine brands have yet to be finalized. 
[] Avionics suppliers are still being firmed up as well. 
[] First Delivery:  Set for 2013
[] Early Bird Buyers:  At AERO, more than 30 C4 orders were taken.  Orders and deposits are now accepted online or through Flight Design's worldwide network of dealers.
[] Specifications: (subject to flight test confirmations) include useful load of 1,320 lbs.;
[] maximum take-off weight of 1.200 kilograms (2,640 pounds);
[] max cruise of 160 knots @ 6,000 feet MSL.
[] Range of 1,200 nautical miles with the avgas engine at 65% power or...
[] 1,700 nautical miles with the diesel engine at 55% power;
[] Fuel capacity: 70 gal.
[] Cockpit dimensions: 52" wide, 47" at rear seat, head clearance in rear for a 6' 7" passenger.

C4 mockup at AERO.  Photo courtesy Loop Magazine

Matthias Betsch, CEO of Flight Design, says this:
"Our ongoing customer surveying shows us that price tops the demand list from customers and we believe our prices can result in sales volumes of 200 to 500 aircraft per year."
As I've noted here before, if you'd like to put in your $.02 in the design/configuration process, you can still do that as the final design is still in flux: Go here for the survey.
You might even win a Garmin aera 500 GPS for your trouble.
Flight Design plans to certify the C4 to several international standards ensuring compliance with both EASA and FAA regulations.
The German company has already successfully gone through several rigors including LAMA and ISO audits.  It also just gained EASA Design Organization Approval that permits it to progress on its own schedule with only oversight monitoring from EASA, which minimizes a lot of cost and time drag on the process.
Best of success to this progressive company which has done so much to help establish the LSA movement in America with its quality aircraft and broad and growing sales and service network.

"Spy Network" Report: Twin Electric Sailplane

NOTE:  Below you'll see a comment asserting that members of the Pipistrel Taurus Electro team visited the PhoEnix project because they were having some difficulties with the Twin Taurus.
I've since heard from Tine Tomazic of Pipistrel's Research and Development team, who wished to correct Jim's false impression and wrote:  "
"The visit to PhoenixAir was a private visit to Martin Stepanek who runs PhoenixAir on HIS INVITATION, nothing else."
Duly noted and corrected and I wish Pipistrel all good luck with their exciting twin Taurus project.
We now return you to our regularly scheduled blogcast:

I heard again today from Jim Lee who's still overseas helping prep the PhoEnix electric motorglider for July's big, $1.65 million CAFE Green Flight Challenge (GFC) fuel-efficient flight competition in Santa Rosa, CA.

Jim sent along photos of the electric nosecone with integrated feathering prop/spinner assembly.  First test flights of the PhoEnix are planned in a couple weeks.

BTW, the enhanced streamlining afforded by the much smaller e-motor boots the lovely creature's performance from L/D 32:1 to 36:1 -- a 12.5% increase!  That's great for soaring and also means less power required to sustain flight, the Big Picture for endurance at this stage of electric aviation. 

The GFC PhoEnix entry will be powered by a 44 kW motor and controller developed in house by Phoenix Air.

Lipo (lithium polymer) batteries, popularized by the RC model industry for their light weight and high storage capacity, will hold the electric "gas".

I'd asked Jim earlier how they were going to get the airplane over, joking that perhaps they'd ferry it across.  You'll see his wry response below.

Note also his take on the cooperation between Pipistrel's Taurus Electro team, also entered in the Green Flight Challenge, and the PhoEnix team.  This brings back fond memories of the dawn of hang gliding, ultralight, then LSA flight, where pilots helped out fellow pilots because the goal was to share the joy and accomplishments with as many people as possible.

PhoEnix's feathering prop, standard on Rotax SLSA too. Photos: Jim Lee

 Once flight contests and market competition ramped up, that "one-for-all" spirit dwindled, as it inevitably does.

Yet I'm mindful of the spirit of mutual support and shared enthusiasm that exists today in the LSA industry, where entrepreneur/pilots like Bill Canino of SportAir USA, Tom Peghiny of Flight Design and Dave Graham of Legend Cub, each with a distinctly different flying background, regularly help out their fellow pilots even though they're all in competition for a small pool of sales dollars.

The recent Georgia LSA Tour is a great example, I'll have an update on that soon.

So here's that fraternal spirit again with the PhoEnix team helping out the Pipistrel team.  Even if it is too late to steal ideas, they certainly don't have to help one another, especially with all those greenbacks at stake. 

Makes you want to rethink this whole competition thing from top to bottom, doesn't it?  

Here's Jim's email:

"Mornin James,
I have enclosed a spy drawing of the Pipistrel entrant to the GFC.  Two Taurus joined together by a center wing a la Twin Mustang of WWII fame.  Pretty interesting, eh?  The Pipistel boys visited us a few days ago to look at our design because they are having trouble with theirs.  Anyway, from their description we put together this drawing.  Everyone realizes that it is too late in the game to copy each other and the prize is too hard to win so cooperation is in order."

PhoenixAir's speculation of what Pipistrel's special Taurus Electro looks like.  Photo: Jim Lee

Jim went on to answer a question I had about flying the PhoEnix which, unlike the SLSA version, has retractable main gear to optimize performance.  Jim had brushed me up (I'm a lazy FAR reader) on the FAA regs, which allow a person with only a glider rating to fly a self-launching (powered) sailplane without a flight medical.  This time, I asked him whether the same allowance held for a retractable-gear glider, and here's his reply:

"There are only 3 logbook endorsements with the glider rating: self-launch, aerotow, and ground launch.  Practically every glider is a taildragger for decreased drag (except for a few oddballs).  Most gliders have retractable gear.  Many are "high-performance".  Some have variable pitch or folding or feathering props.  There are no endorsements for any of this as there are with airplanes.  So a glider rated pilot with a self-launch endorsement can fly a retract motorglider."

PhoEnix after getting it's new coat of paint.  Photo: Jim Lee

And finally Jim's tongue-in-cheek response to my question about bringing the PhoEnix to California for the GFC in July:
"We will fly the PhoEnix across the Atlantic east to west.  We don't have quite enough battery storage to make the whole flight, so we will have to soar a container ship across.  We are looking into sailing schedules out of Bremerhaven now.  The GFC will be a piece of cake once we do this! :-)
Regards,
Jim"

Thanks again Jim for giving us an inside look to what I very much believe will be an historic event.

PhoEnix : E as in Electric

Scoop time!
I've been having so much fun lately writing the electric flight article (now rescheduled to Aug. issue of Plane & Pilot) that it's bringing electrifying news from the universe to my email inbox.
Jim Lee, that hard working, happy-flying distributor for the Phoenix motorglider I was gobsmacked with at Sebring, told me today about the PhoEnix all-electric version of the Rotax-powered motorglider that is selling like hotcakes here and abroad.

 Here's some of what he had to say:
"Reporting from the Czech Republic where I am spending 2 weeks assisting in the production of our new electric PhoEnix.  The weather has been great ... soaring 5.5 hours in the last two days...I see that your blog has sort of turned into an electric blog lately, so that gave me the idea to report to you first on our electric project...Orders for the Rotax Phoenix are pouring in, so we had better stop flying and start working."
Oh, for that challenge: to fly, or handle orders for your aircraft! 

 








Here are excerpts from the blurb Jim sent:
[] The Phoenix S-LSA glider just won the 2011 Sun 'n Fun Outstanding Fixed Wing LSA award (and congratulations to all, Jim!)
[] The PhoEnix has retractable gear, variable pitch propeller, a modified Discus wing, and a new super streamlined fuselage. (check out the pix!)
[] The prototype PhoEnix debuted at Aero Freidrichshafen in 2010.
[] PhoEnix proto number two is about to begin first test flights! 
[] "Phoenix Air believes that the attributes of the PhoEnix will give it the winning edge in the Green Flight Challenge."

Check the Challenge link above, or here's the short tell:
Team aircraft must fly 200 miles in under two hours using the energy equivalent of one gallon of gas per occupant.
So far, 13 teams have entered, including Jim Lee in the PhoEnix.  Not all will show.
Location: Sonoma Co. Airport, Santa Rosa, CA, and don't I wish I still lived in Santa Barbara so I could go!
Date: July 11-17, 2011.
The Kicker: Prize money is $1.65 million!  Sponsored by NASA, which wisely realizes there are lots of innovations coming directly from grass roots aviation and it wants to cull the best.

PC Aero Elektra One

Some of the competitors:
[] Greg Cole/Windward Performance's Goshawk, a 50-foot span electric two-seater
[] PC Aero's LEAP award winning Elektra One, single seat electric
[] Scott Sanford/Yuneec is listed with the E1000, 4-seat electric, but don't expect to see that as the company's President Tian Yu just announced it at AERO and there's been no word of even a mockup, much less a prototype...although wouldn't it be super cagey for it to show up with four people on board, (which would allow the energy equivalent of 4 gallons of fuel?)
[] Eric Raymond (known for Sunseeker solar-powered sailplanes) with the eGenius two-seat electric sponsored by Airbus.
[] The Taurus Elektro G4, four-seat electric.  It's doubtful whether this will show either...but you can see the trend in thinking that four seaters sooner rather than later is an important goal.
Clearly, the minimal battery storage capacity of current technology is not diminishing enthusiasm...not to overlook the go-for-it stimulus of a 1.65 megabuck prize either.
Good luck all!  This ought to be a history-making event.

Getting a Charge

LEAP award winner Elektra One. photo courtesy PC-Aero GmbH

Well, Thomas, you've done it again: gotten me to blather on so long with your as-always thoughtful and knowledgeable comments that I exceeded the comment buffer so have to palaver on here in another post.
Well, that's why they call it a weBlog I guess: it's a place to hang our thoughts out to dry.
So what's below is a response to your comment from yesterday's post, with a couple more pix thrown in to thump the eye candy factor.
I think we can't overlook the market factor here.  Just as car manufacturers know where the buyers are, it could be what we're seeing with these projects aiming toward higher/faster/more payload electric are manufacturers figuring that they're since they're going to sell more of the expensive, travel-capable airplanes than sailplanes and motorgliders anyway, why concentrate time and resources on a transient, historically tiny share of the market?  Leapfrog to the future, expect the tech to come along as needed.

If I'm right, it's a visionary way to jumpstart an entire new genre, a new epic in fact, of flight.
And since I don't profess to be an expert, I'm just observing it like you are and wondering myself exactly which way and ways it will go.
Your NASA reference is intriguing.  I'd like to talk with some electrical bigbrains for enlightenment on the concept as I hadn't heard that. 
It could very well be that there's an "economy of weight", like economies of scale in manufacturing, that comes into play beyond a gross weight threshold, given the current technology.

HYNOV aircraft - first to fly 100% on hydrogen. Photo: Gerard Thevenot

 Still, Randall Fishman is quite unequivocal about it: he says he's crunched the numbers and has no doubt that the heavier the airplane and the poorer the pure aerodynamic efficiency, the less electric power makes sense, given the capacities we have today. 
I'll save myself from being thought a fool by opening my mouth and removing all doubt, by continuing to watch for what actually comes to market and extrapolating possible futures from that, as we've all begun doing to date.
I do believe we will see 4-seaters like Yuneec is currently promising.
When? 
Battery advances will surely determine, barring some other superspiffy technology coming in that nobody expects, such as some super solar cell.
Energy storage remains the holy grail from what I hear and read everywhere.
I also believe Yuneec has learned very well how to gin up enthusiasm, but it may well be true, like the flying car people, that they're simply making sure their name stays out there in public view, knowing  full well they'd be making an epic mistake by pushing out "vapor wings", i.e. aircraft that aren't really refined and truly ready for the market.

Antares DLR H2 fuel cell power: Photo: DLR-Institut für Technische Thermodynamik, Lange Research Aircraft GmbH

They can't fail to have noticed the Billion Dollar Debacle of VLJ, the Very Light Jet, as envisioned by Eclipse, which went down the drain and took most of the other swimmers with it. 
VLJ was trumpeted as the next great thing, the savior of smaller airports, the harbinger of a vast new regional "air taxi" network that would make short- and medium-distance travel more practical by  helping many of us, especially businessfolk, avoid the hassles of big airline terminal travel.
Problem was, the idea was not economically practical as conceived, and few VLJ will ever make it to market.
Yuneec has a lot of money and is at the vanguard of an entire new industry that they're helping to create, and surely hope to cash in on with lots of sales.
And clearly they're not rushing anything to market.  I wondered if they were having technical problems.  But the word I get from Yuneec insiders is they are not going to risk all that potential by rushing anything to market until it is thoroughly wrung out and ready for John Q. (Litigation-Capable) Public to fly safely and enthusiastically.

Fascination Ekarus, electric power.  Photo by W. Dallach

Remember when the iPhone came out?  That was a well-refined product.  I remember seeing the first commercials with the finger flick-scrolling from page to program, and thinking, "Yeah, right, just another bogus advertising hype."
Then I saw one some eager owner couldn't wait to share with me and anyone else within earshot.
I bought one as soon as I could and have never regretted it.  History changed with that product, just as it will with well-produced electric aircraft.
Two- and four-seat electrics are in our near future, we can hope, along with practical, affordable electric cars. 
In the meantime, there's a much broader technology to grow, and we're so clearly very much in the early Wright Years, so my guess is Moore's Law of computer tech proliferation (doubling every 18 months I think it is) will not likely happen just yet. 
There's still an entire, and basic, infrastructure to create and develop.  There are economies of scale to create first to make them affordable.
So that leads me back to concluding that for those of us who really want to fly behind (or in front of) an electric propulsion unit, we're better off for the next five years flying what I espoused above: light, efficient glider-style aircraft.
We shouldn't expect the moon just yet...but we can sure jump in and join the party, rather than gripe that we're not really saving money or going as far as we can with gas airplanes.
That's not the point in this stage of history, not the point at all.
Would I love to be dead wrong?  Would I welcome a two-seat, 2-3 hour electric 100 knot cruiser next month?  That didn't cost $150,000, but more like $40-50,000?   
You bet I would. 
And maybe we'll see it happen.
That's part of the fun: we get to watch it happen, all of us, and be a part of it as it unfolds.

Electric Flight: More Thoughts

Yesterday a reader commented on my electric flight post, specifically about the LZ FES, a pretty sexy add-on that just won the Lindbergh LEAP prize for best new electric propulsion system.  He wondered whether electric flight for now required light weight motorgliders or whether heavier, 15M plus sailplanes/motorgliders would be workable for electric power.
My answer began to get too lengthy to stick in comments so I'm posting it here, and thanks Thomas for your enthusiasm.

I talked over this very subject this week with Randall Fishman, the award-winning electric flight pioneer.  His take on where we're at right now is in my Profiles in Vision column, coming in the July issue of P&P.
Randall's whole trip is to get people up in the air with electric power right now, and not for 150,000 clams either.  To summarize his own one-man research and development plan, it's all about lightweight motorgliders.
There are two key factors -- light weight and a good low sink rate.  The less power you need to get airborne and maintain flight, the better contemporary electric flight technology works.
Randall hopes to debut his latest design, a composite two-seat LSA called ElectraFlyer X, at Oshkosh this year.  It's a very cool looking airplane...and a motorglider.
Previously, as I've noted here more than once, he rocked the electric world with the ElectraFlyer Trike, currently available for sale, and the prototype ElectraFlyer C, a single-seat model (more below). He's also in test mode with newly designed motors he's had built for the X and other projects.
There are lots of other electric motorglider projects out there, for this basic reason: the less amount of thrust you need to stay airborne, the more viable electric propulsion is.  For now that has to mean less transportation-style flying and more "pure enjoyment" local flying.
Can we live with that?  Hell yes...how cool is it that we are able to fly this completely revolutionary technology right now?
My favorite story of Randall's recounts the time he took his electric trike off from Ellenville, NY's little airport, motored over to where the hang glider guys were soaring the popular ridge a couple miles away, turned off the motor and joined the thermaling gaggles.
Typically, and I've done this myself, you work up into ever-stronger lift bands at E-Ville by ramping  up the sloping ridge, which can get you good and high but also back half a mile or more from launch.
That particular day, some guys were way high but way back.  Randall, because he had the boost of electric power when he needed it, was able to penetrate out in front of the hill and catch some really strong lift that the pure soaring craft couldn't risk trying to reach for fear they'd land out from the LZ, the landing zone.

He flew two hours that day -- and landed with plenty of "juice" to spare.
This is one highly doable scenario for electric powered flight.  No, it's not 100 knot A-to-B flying, but we've got plenty of gas-powered aircraft for that already.

The Electric Swift.  Photo from Icaro.  No, that's not a tail, but a folding prop!

This is something new, but also old: flying again for the pure joy of it...without the many detriments of gas engines.
On a good soaring day, you can take a current-tech electric, whether it's a hang glider trike or a lightweight motorglider or a flying wing like the Swift at left, motor up into the lift, and fly as long as the lift holds out.  That's possible right now.
And to repeat my electric-flight mantra: no mess, no smell, dramatically less noise, no vibration, no annuals, no oil, no gas, long-life motors, rechargeable battery packs that cost under a buck to charge, and will last many hundreds of hours, and will get increasingly affordable as more people jump on the electric bandwagon, not just in the air but also for ground vehicles like cars, bikes and cycles.
We're in the beginning stages of a paradigm shift that will outlast all the greed-based attempts to forestall it.  It's here, it's growing, and it will be glorious.
Okay, down with the pom poms and back on topic.
There are more pure "muscle" electric aviation projects out there as well, of course.  Before those become reality, before the "higher, faster, more payload" visions become reality, battery efficiency will have to improve by a few scales of magnitude.

Electric Swift's cockpit view.  Photo courtesy Icaro.

So the answer to your question, Thomas, about electric powered flight right now, remains with lighter weight and more efficient airframes, and that spells motorgliders.
Bigger motorgliders will work but are more exotic and complex to deal with (trailers, special hangars, elaborate feathering/streamlining systems, and higher costs for sure.)
Meanwhile, the electric powered hang glider trikes that Randall and others have developed work, and work very well.
They serve up more than an hour of flight and don't require 130 lb. pilots to do so (Randall weighs 200 lbs. and has consistently had 1 1/2 hour and longer flights.)
Some other notable projects, including the video below, are popping up around the world.  Search for "electric trike" to get an idea.  Here's a link to get you started learning about various electric projects already for sale or imminent.

Let's take a closer look at Randall's ElectraFlyer C prototype (which he is selling for $49,000, see my earlier post).  The C is a single-seat, converted all- aluminum Monnett Moni motorglider he built from a kit.  And Randall also gets 1.5 hours and more on a full charge too, along with 70 mph cruise and 90+ mph top speed.

Manfred Ruehmer's electric trike (see video above).  Photo courtesy Icaro.

Yuneec is of course fine tuning its many electric projects.  Notable are several one- and two-seat motorglider frames, the e-Spyder ultralight, a trike, and a four-seat electric airplane just announced...and all are electric powered.
Some time pretty soon, certainly in the next year or so, we're going to have a lot of electric aircraft on the market, to suit a broad range of budgets.
This will not be solely another rich person's hobby, although it will take time to get the electric industry up and running because important technologies need to be developed and proofed, such as higher-storage batteries and more sophisticated, safe electronic motor controllers.
It is happening.  It is happening now.  We will be flying electric globally in a rich variety of planforms and applications before very much longer, you can count on it.
This year's Oshkosh, in particular, should bring more exposure and new electric aircraft to a broader audience.
Keep a lookout for my survey of electric flight projects around the world, also coming in the July issue of P&P.

LEAP Awards Electric Aviation Prizes

Eric Lindbergh, grandson of Charles A. Lindbergh, awarded the LEAP Prize to Pipistrel's Ivo Boscarol at the just-finished AERO General Aviation convention in Friedrichshafen, Germany.
The 3rd annual e-Flight gathering took place there also, and Lindbergh's Best Electric Aircraft award went to Pipistrel's Taurus Electro.

There were some notable challengers in the category and three finalists: the Taurus, the Electric Cri-Cri (power by Electravia), and Eric Raymond's Sunseeker II solar airplane.
Also awarded was the Best Electric Propulsion.  The two finalists were the LZ Design FES (Front Engine Sustainer) system and the Rapid 200 Fuel Cell propulsion system from Polytechnic Torino.
The LZ FES was the winner -- check out this video.

The LEAP 2011 Outstanding Achievement Award went to Bertrand Piccard, Andre Borschberg and the Solar Impulse Team for its electric around-the-world project airplane. 

A romantic, and apt, spin on the awards is linking today's electric pioneers to Lucky Lindy's amazing transatlantic flight in 1927, which pretty much singlehandedly changed the global perception of aviation from a daredevil hobby or foolhardy mail delivery system to the common transportation, recreational and warfare tool it has become. 
It may be years before there is a viable non-motorglider style electric aircraft.  Battery density advances are needed, since gasoline still has more than 70 times the energy per pound of the best commercially available batteries today.
But...it's coming, and publicity-rich enterprises like the LEAP award are helping fuel public acceptance of the new technology.  Meanwhile, we can all have fun thinking about flying for pure enjoyment...on near-silent propulsion.
And congratulations to all the winners, including Pipistrel for the Taurus Electro, which is the first commercially available electric two-seater aircraft in production. And it sells with a Solar Trailer, which charges the batteries with sun power while the bird is stored. 
Kinda cool.

Europe's AERO in Full Swing

Aero Friedrichshafen, Europe's big annual GA convention, has more than 600 exhibitors showing their wares and innovations right now through tomorrow. 
Sub-titled The Global Show for General Aviation, if you want to see what's happening and what's coming down the pike, you'll not find a more intensely focused representation than at Aero.
The show spreads displays from many big names and newcomers alike, up through bizjets, across its 14 big hangar-style display areas. 
I like this show, although lamentably I've yet to go, because it never fails to draw cool new stuff, in particular Microlight/LSA developments and electric and solar powered birds.  Thousands of visitors flock to the "e-flight Expo" at Aero, in its third year as part of the show.
Two big events will highlight the show this year: the Berblinger Flight Competition and the awarding of three LEAP prizes from Erik Lindbergh (Lucky Lindy's grandson).
The Berblinger event involves 36 teams, most of them from Germany (23), although none from the U.S., and two parts: a technical award (and €100,000 prize) to be awarded today at Aero; and a flight competition later this year in the city of Ulm in which teams fly a specific course while being judged by several environmentally significant parameters including noise level, energy use and overall performance.
The Lindbergh LEAP prize will award the most notable electric advance, best electric design, and best electric systems and technology, similar to its Oshkosh 2010 awards.

And now for Something Completely Different: Flynano, a kind of...well, stay with me here.  Look at the pic.  Now, do you agree with me that it looks like a personal flying watercycle?
This no-cargo, one-person, fun-flying, joined-biplane ultralight will take off and land in the drink.  Wow!  What a hoot this thing could be...or a complete boondoggle.
Call it Icon-Light:
[] Empty weight (it's mostly carbon fiber-built) will be under 155 lbs.,
[] gross weight 485 lbs.,
[] wingspan 15.7 ft., nose to tail 12.4 ft., height 5 ft.,
[] cruise 87 mph, landing speed 43 mph, nearly 600 fpm climb rate,
[] 18,000 foot ceiling, and a range of 21 miles.
Power comes from a pylon-mounted 20kW electric motor (24hp and 35hp gas motors also available. 
Deliveries projected for summer of this year.  Prices range from € 25,000 to €27,000, around $40,000 USD.
I'll be watching to see how this takes off in Europe, where you don't need a license to fly because of its weight.
Could this be the market-killer fun-flying jetski concept that Icon's much-ballyhooed amphib, still in development after three years, has yet to deliver to the market?  (Latest delivery projection from Icon: late this year)
If Flynano does what it claims, even though it only carries one pilot, heck, people could buy four for the same price as one Icon and have money left for gas...a lot of gas.
And in the U.S., it would qualify as an ultralight -- no sport pilot license needed as with the Icon, since it's well under Part 103's max 254 lb. ceiling -- except for a couple things old friend Michael Bradford pointed out that I'd, ahem, kinda forgotten about: ultralights have a top legal speed of 55 knots and must stall under 24 knots.  Used to know that.  So Flynano, and this is of course a good thing, just sayin', would require a Sport Pilot License.
Of course, these are two decidedly different aircraft...but Icon's stated mission -- to create a fun-flying, easily portable flying water craft -- well, that's kinda the same.
Stay tuned on this one.  I want to see one of these puppies fly.
Tomorrow, I'll have a report on the Elektra One electric monoplane I blogged about a few weeks ago: it's at Aero also.

Electric Motorglider For Sale

Catching up on some particulars with Randall Fishman of ElectraFlyer after our chat at Sun n Fun, he told me he's selling his prototype C model for $49,000.
Here's what he had to say about it and other aspects of his electric powered aircraft pioneering efforts:
"We have sold trikes since 2007. Most of our sales are propulsion kits, batteries and chargers for people either building something new or converting to electric."

ElectraFlyer C

 "The first two of the new motors are in my shop now and we will be mounting them for testing."
"The C is a one off conversion of a plane I already owned (a Moni kit motorglider).  I want to sell it now to help finance the new projects. It is really the first successful electric airplane other than some exotic million dollar science projects such as the solar planes.  Hope there is a collector out there."
"The ElectraFlyer X is running now. Have to button up all the details and get the airworthiness cert. Had made arrangements to bring it to Sun 'n Fun but the weather and field conditions prevented this. Lucky for me, probably saved the plane."
"The original ElectraFlyer trike...(is) I believe...the very first successful electric aircraft of any kind that can be bought, stored and flown by a regular guy. Had its first flight of  over one hour May of 2007. Shortly after that I had flights of 1.5 hours in calm air and then 2 hour+ flights in Ellenville (renowned NY hang gliding site) with the help of lift."

 So now of course, I'm thinking of getting an electric trike conversion for my Wills Wing Sport 2 hang glider, as my bod doesn't tolerate the strain of flying prone very well any more.

LSA Tour #2 Is Underway

Hard on the heels of their prototype LSA Tour after Sebring last January and the recent Sun 'n Fun 2011 in Lakeland, Florida, the 2011 Georgia LSA Tour gang is at it again.
Three makes of Cubalikes alone will be there, as well as the other LSA you see in the mailer above.
This time they're swinging north from the Sunshine State to bring The Word to several Southern airports.  
Here's a great way to avoid the airshow crowds and have some meaningful one-on-one with top industry reps.

Specifics below: be sure and call in case of changes due to weather.

Let There Be Light

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.

The One, The Only, The Blue: 100 Years of Naval Aviation

Garmin's new touchscreen GPS

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.
And riding around in those little carts invites derogatory digs from friends, so maybe it's better just to suffer.  Manly honor and all that.
Caught up with Randall Fishman to divine the latest on his ElectraFlyer X two-seat LSA, which didn't make it to the show (and a good thing since the tent it would have been in was destroyed by the wind storm).
We swapped old hang gliding and ultralight stories - like me, he flew several Seagull gliders back in the day - and I met his very first customer, an 87 year old pilot, still current, who bought his first prototype electric trike...which Randall told me now gets up to 1.5 hours of endurance with a 70 lb. battery pack.  I had made a slip in an article I wrote a couple years ago saying the trike had "limited" endurance so let me correct that mistake now, and sorry Randall.

Randall Fishman's ElectraFlyer C

I'll be working on an electric aviation article after Aero finishes in Europe next week.  Exciting developments in the electric aviation field to be sure, so stay tuned.
I also met lots of good people who introduced me to their aviation products.  Photos and links of a few below for you to explore.
I'll have more details in the Sun 'n Fun roundup article I'm doing for the mag.

Kannad's XS4 Personal Locator Beacon

Dave Gustafson models the new Lightspeed Zulu headset

All told, it felt like a three-day show.  My late arrival in the Dakota Cub Super 18 due to weather, the storm, 69 (at last count) damaged airplanes and the cancelled show day made for lots of running around playing catchup.
Some disappointing sales results for several LSA companies, not to mention folks like Lockwood Aviation which lost four display aircraft and Aviat's extensive Huskie losses, put a bit of a damper on the hopes of vendors. I'll survey more companies soon for the overall picture.
Now, assuming the weather doesn't have different ideas, it's about time we had some decent spring and summer flying.
On to Oshkosh.
And Sun 'n Fun 2011 be done: Long Live Sun 'n Fun!

Trail Of Tears

I was just leaving So. Lakeland AirPark (X49) today, bemoaning the lack of activity down there -- LSA dealers used to bring their aircraft down there for demos but not many people seem to do that the last couple years, and I don't know why.
That's a shame because it's a long grass strip with a wonderful country ambience...a great place to try out an LSA without the hussle and bustle of the airshow a few miles north.
Departing the field, I came across the Dakota Cub folks.  They were finishing the unhappy task of bringing the wreckage (fuselage on one trailer, wings on another) to a hangar at X49 until they could get a determination from the insurance people as to whether to rebuild it or write it off as salvage.

Back at the airshow later, I talked with Amy Gersch and Speedy Richardson, my companions on the interminably long (weather-delayed) trip out to the show all last week.  They were both understandably blue about the loss of the airplane Speedy had flown down, and the damage to Amy's favorite "Little Airplane" as she affectionately, and constantly, calls it. 
She talks to it like it was her personal teddy bear...and Speedy reportedly had a few tears himself when the 180 he flew was trashed.

But nothing holds these folks down for long.  As we watched the opening of the airshow, they both spoke of the Cub enclave at New Holstein, where I hope to meet up with them during Oshkosh this year.

Komet Acrobatic SLSA Biplane Wows Crowds

Jon Hansen and twin brother Ron, and sons Mike and Mitch and probably some other Hansens I missed, all of Hansen Air Group (must be why they call it a "Group") were besieged by excited showgoers eager to learn more about the new FK12 Komet.

 It's made by the same German company that has produced so many fine microlight and LSA aircraft, including the FK 9 Mk IV and ELA, and should satisfy that niche of sport pilots eager to fly acro, since there are few such light sport birds out there.
You can get more details on the German site, but here's a quick taste of what you can expect flying this acrobatic SLSA from Jon Hansen and son Mike.

Video of Sun 'n Fun Carnage

Not long after the windstorm, I shot these videos.
There were other sections on the field I didn't get to that had more airplanes flipped, including, sad to say, a couple beautiful J3 Cubs.  I hope the Grand Champion hopeful I videoed yesterday wasn't one of them...but everybody loses when this many airplanes are damaged and destroyed.

Rain 'n A Lot Of Pain

Bad day at Sun 'n Fun, a day that no one likes to think about, but can happen anywhere at any time: Mother Nature threw one gigantic hissy fit, to the dismay of dozens of aircraft owners whose aircraft were amaged or outright destroyed. 
A horrific thunderstorm kept feeding nasty tornadic weather right across central Florida, and at one point we had a funnel cloud which may have touched down, depending on who you talked to, and flipped airplanes around like so many child's toys. 

Once it was over, tents were smashed, 2" steel flag poles were bent over like straw, and many planes were stacked like kindling.  Zodiacs, Huskies, Aircams, Cubs: no type was favored over any other.
The two Dakota Cubs I flew out in from Sioux Falls were not spared.  The 180hp Cub Speedy Richardson and I flew the last two days of our 6-day flight was destroyed.  The Cub flown by Amy Gersch was damaged but should be able to fly home, though the cowling was dinged up pretty bad and the metal prop was gouged by the wreckage of the other Cub which flipped, ripping out its double tie downs like they were anchored in peanut butter, and landed on Amy's plane. 

Millions of dollars of damage overall, and the show was cancelled for the rest of the day. 
I hunkered down in the Sun 'n Fun Museum (big steel building) with a couple hundred other anxious showgoers, including Dan Johnson and his wife Randee.  
Our sincerest regrets, condolences and wishes for solid insurance policies for all those who suffered losses today.