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Electric plane flies at Oshkosh airshow (http://www.airventure.org/2008/8sun3/electra_flyer.html)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/506/electraflyer-c.jpgMary Jones – EAA AirVenture – Aug. 3, 2008

The ElectraFlyer C, shown at the Oshkosh airshow 2008.

If it works for planes, how about cars next? -- Ed.

An electric-powered airplane flew over the main air show runway at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh today, and it wowed the crowd with its quietness. Recognizing its uniqueness, onlookers applauded as the airplane made its first pass.

Piloted by Joe Bennis, the ElectraFlyer C made three passes in front of air show center. Randall Fishman, president of the Electric Aircraft Corp., which designed the powerplant, said that the quietness of the engine and absence of vibration are two of the machine's best qualities. Not to mention that you can recharge its 18-hp motor in as little as two hours at a cost of about 75 cents with a 110-volt charger. That's right-75 cents. "That makes the proverbial $100 hamburger cost … well, the price of the hamburger plus 75 cents," Fishman quipped.

The ElectraFlyer-C cruises at 70 mph, stalls at 45 mph, and has a top speed of 90 mph and a flight duration of 1-1/2 to 2 hours. The motor direct drives a 45-inch ground adjustable, two-blade PowerFin carbon fiber propeller, which lifts the ElectraFlyer-C at a climb rate of 500 to 600 fpm. Takeoff rpm is 2800.

http://www.airventure.org/2008/8sun3/electra_flyer.html

More information, and a couple videos and interviews, here: http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/08/05/electric-plane-flies-at-oshkosh-airshow/

About 7 or 8 years ago when I got into RC airplanes, my first plane was electric.
This is the type I used to learn on.. http://www.zagi.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1
Even with ni-cads, they have a lot of zip.. :)

It's really nice to see full-scale moto-gliders running on electric power.
It's only a matter of time until we start seeing more of these e-planes ghosting around the sky.

I wonder if they will use re-gen when descending? :D

Xringer> Have you seen what you can do with super light electronics in R/C planes now? Sheesh, they measure weight in grams and have runtimes in the 30 minute range. Impressive with such small battery packs.

That full-size plane looks like an R/C model airplane!

Harry

I'll bet it does really well on pulse and glide... :D

Xringer> Have you seen what you can do with super light electronics in R/C planes now? Sheesh, they measure weight in grams and have runtimes in the 30 minute range. Impressive with such small battery packs.

I've seen them in the AMA mag and can't believe how small they have made servos these days.
The magic part of it all is combining super light batteries with more fe brushless motors.

I would like to get one, but they too light for outdoors. And my house doesn't have
enough air-space (maybe for one of those new E-helicopters.?.)..

I'll bet it does really well on pulse and glide... :D

When I was flying e-gliders, I only used the motor to get some height, so I could
glide around and find some lift (up-drafts). With the motor off, I could glide around
for hours on good lift days.. RC gliders and e-planes are a blast..
It's Hyper-gliding for the soul.. :cool: I just had to watch out for Redtail hawks. :eek:

I'll bet it does really well on pulse and glide... :D

Good one! ;)

these should be used in flying schools all over...would really bring down the airplane rental costs.

I thought that high av. gas prices would put an end to general aviation. :( I guess its still not too late to get that single engine vfr flight rated license after all. :woot:

Now if only it could be scaled up to 727 size....will likely require advances in Nanomaterials and much denser energy storage than current Lithium Ions but I don't think it will be impossible.

And what else is soaring but pulse & glide, sans engine?

You could probably do some regen in serious thermals, or wave lift. Even in the old single-place Schwietzers (sp?) I used to rent, I've see a thousand fpm or more in a good thermal...

What if ICE automobiles where phased out with greatest emphasis on the gas guzzlers like SUVs and big trucks through a buy out by the government in exchange for consumers purchasing electric vehicles? The reduction of ICE cars in the US auto fleet would allow the fuel saved in gasoline and diesel to be reformulated for aviation fuel. This would lower the price of kerosene and av. gas because the largest demand for oil in transportation is for cars and aviation accounts for a small part of that in spite of the large amounts of fuel that jet aircraft use. This steep demand reduction would lower fuel prices and place more fuel in the airline industry. The cost to implement this program would be more than offset by the savings from reduced trade imbalances caused by purchasing oil from off shore.

That's a good point. For automotive use, a few extra pounds of batteries isn't a big deal. In aviation, it can keep a plane from flying. This plane is basically a glider already, so it doesn't need much propulsion. It doesn't scale up to commercial size. There's still nothing as good as liquid fuel for aircraft, especially the larger ones. All the more reason to stop using it up on the ground.

I'll bet it does really well on pulse and glide... :D

And tailgate a boeing 747 bring you to heaven

PierreM

I've seen them in the AMA mag and can't believe how small they have made servos these days.
The magic part of it all is combining super light batteries with more fe brushless motors.

I would like to get one, but they too light for outdoors. And my house doesn't have
enough air-space (maybe for one of those new E-helicopters.?.)..

Depends. That's where bluecore foam board comes into play. That way, when you wreck, it only costs you a 3 bucks in materials to fix ;). It's been so bloody windy in NC that I've given it up as a bad deal for now (flying around the house).

I've got a PiccoZ from the first product run, and they're not nearly as fun as they could have been. They've gotten better, and some of the Blade product lines are pretty darn slick too. I just don't have enough free spending cash to really get into flying.

After a long time flying fuel powered RC planes, I have finally started flying electrics starting about two years ago. Currently am flying a 7.2 pound 72 inch wingspan plane with 4.5 amp hour six cell lithium polymer battery packs. Easily does 10+ minutes of aerobatic flying. If this plane was fuel powered, it would have a .60 two stroke or a .90 four stroke engine.
The problem is that those batteries cost about $280 each. I wonder how much that full scale plane has in batteries.

I have been keeping a logbook of that plane's flights and so far I have about 290 flights on it with about 96 or so flights on each of the three battery packs. So far, the batterys are still working almost like new. I have heard that they can be expected to last about 400 charge-discharge cycles, something else that has to be factored in when comparing costs to fuel power.

This steep demand reduction would lower fuel prices and place more fuel in the airline industry.

Suppose that instead of airplanes, short & medium distance trips could be made by high-speed electric railways. (Powered by your friendly local nuclear plant, or other fossil fuel free generation). Then you wouldn't have to spend hours getting to the airport, more hours going through security, waiting to board, taxiing to runways, etc.

And tailgate a boeing 747 bring you to heaven

Hope you were joking there. Believe me, you do NOT want to be close behind any large airplane in a light plane. Even in another airliner-sized plane, things can get dicey. Look up "wake turbulence" and "wingtip vortex".

Hope you were joking there. Believe me, you do NOT want to be close behind any large airplane in a light plane.

Yeah, he was joking, thus the "tailgating a 747 to heaven".

BTW- "If you're close enough to read this, you're close enough to be flipped by my WAKE TURBULENCE"

-Tail Sticker on a B757;)

Yeah, he was joking, thus the "tailgating a 747 to heaven".

BTW- "If you're close enough to read this, you're close enough to be flipped by my WAKE TURBULENCE"

-Tail Sticker on a B757;)

There is a real good reason that wild geese don't migrate flying in a indian file formation.

Hope you were joking there. Believe me, you do NOT want to be close behind any large airplane in a light plane. Even in another airliner-sized plane, things can get dicey. Look up "wake turbulence" and "wingtip vortex".

OK, if you prefer "And tailgate a boeing 747 bring you to hell"


PierreM.

Very Cool. The picture looks like he's missing half of his horizontal stabilizer though!

It's got a V-tail - two diagonals instead of an inverted T. Pretty cool.