On Tue, 28 Apr 2015 08:40:43 +1200, george152 wrote:

On 28/04/2015 4:23 a.m., Larry Dighera wrote:
On Mon, 27 Apr 2015 08:25:02 +1200, george152 wrote:

On 27/04/2015 1:58 a.m., Larry Dighera wrote:

Glaring omission: SOLAR IMPULSE
http://us3.campaign-archive2.com/?u=553e7fdb79a7f1570622b070d&id=5e3b071d05&e=2b92d 60fc6
Round the world flight with the Sun as sole fuel source!



Thanks for that Larry.
At present I'm extracting the urine (taking the ****) out of some-one
who thinks the Solar Impulse is a breakthrough.
Pointed out that that last leg took them 17 hours.
Most of the Cessnas and Pipers I fly would do it with 4-6 SOB in 4 hours


You are correct, George. Eric Raymond was flying solely on solar power many
years before the Solar Impulse project began. That said, I know of no other
solar powered aircraft that has succeeded, indeed embarked upon, a
round-the-world flight fueled solely by sunlight as the Solar Impulse has.

Comparing today's electrically powered aircraft to Cessnas and Pipers is a bit
like comparing the Wright Flyer to them; electrically powered aircraft are
still in their infancy of development.

What I found interesting about the symposium was the big names on the roster of
speakers: Airbus, Northrop-Grumman, NASA, Carnegie Mellon University ... It
would seem that electrically powered aircraft are making steady advances in
performance and credibility as they are continuing to be developed and
technology improves.

Personally, I believe that one day the world will look back on the
petroleum-based era of motive power as the "Model T" era, and be thankful for
the development of far more efficient and cleaner electrical power. But then,
as being a "card carrying" IBEW member for over 50 years, and having benefit of
the schooling they provided for four years, I may be a bit biased. :-)


There was an electric aircraft in the 30s.
Had an endurance of 2 hours.

First I've heard of it. Are you able to provide any more information about it?


I checked through some of the current machines.
Apart from the self launched sailplanes most are two seaters with a two
hour endurance.
Any cross country would be limited by the reserve requirement. Don't
know what it is in the US but here minimum is 15 minutes.
Not a great range and the recharge will really stuff your day

Yeah. Current electric aeronautical technology is still a bit nascent. Given
the comparatively high energy density of petroleum-based aviation fuels, it's
going to be difficult to achieve comparable endurance with any electric
technology other than perhaps highly pressurized hydrogen feeding a remarkably
efficient fuel cell generator.

The way I see it currently, is that a lighter than air craft, that doesn't
relies on power to maintain altitude, and could possibly be covered in
photovoltaic "fabric" (such technology is still pretty new.) is a reasonable
starting place with a far better probability of success than winged aircraft.

The high efficiency of electric power is somewhat enabling in potentially
replacing internal combustion power plants be they piston or turbine.