New Electric Motorglider-Birdy

On Friday, August 14, 2020 at 8:00:04 AM UTC-6, Paul T wrote:
40:1 glide ratio sounds nice, but a VNE of 200km/hr seems a bit limiting
for anything but purely relaxed recreational flying.


What do you seriously thinking its aimed for?? -winning the Open Class
World Championships?

I'm not sure how much it costs new. But I'm sure that for the same money you can get an older and much better performing glider that you could grow into that you COULD eventually race in, if you wanted to, or work on records, or some other performance related soaring activity.

John Foster wrote on 8/14/2020 1:40 PM:
On Friday, August 14, 2020 at 8:00:04 AM UTC-6, Paul T wrote:
40:1 glide ratio sounds nice, but a VNE of 200km/hr seems a bit limiting
for anything but purely relaxed recreational flying.


What do you seriously thinking its aimed for?? -winning the Open Class
World Championships?

I'm not sure how much it costs new. But I'm sure that for the same money you can get an older and much better performing glider that you could grow into that you COULD eventually race in, if you wanted to, or work on records, or some other performance related soaring activity.

In the US, it can be raced competitively in the 13.5M class and the Sports Class.
I don't know how competitive it would be in either class, but I'm guessing it
would be at least "adequate". And, there are plenty of records to work for: the
SSA currently lists over 32 pending or confirmed records in the US in the last 6
months for the 13.5M class, and some of those flights also qualified for records
in Sports and Std classes.

Clearly, though, the goal was not racing, but a lightweight, low-cost
self-launcher that is easy to use. The UL ("ultralight") designation is important
in Europe, as it provides licensing and maintenance requirements that are less
onerous than other classes, but is irrelevant in the USA.

I just realized a benefit of the oddly rear mounted propeller: It can be
significantly bigger than the current FES propellers, at 1.3M versus 1.0M
diameter. That's a 70% increase in swept area, which should allow a more efficient
propeller to be used.


--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1

I think it's an excellent concept. Besides being a more efficient prop, it's also a fully protected prop that's not susceptible to nose over. I suppose to 'clear prop' and start it, you might hold a mirror up to make sure there's nobody back there to wack.

You do understand that this is more like 3-axis rigid wing hangglider than real glider? 120 kg empty with 3-6 kWh of batteries gives you half the structual weight of normal glider.

At 20:40 14 August 2020, John Foster wrote:
On Friday, August 14, 2020 at 8:00:04 AM UTC-6, Paul T wrote:
40:1 glide ratio sounds nice, but a VNE of 200km/hr seems a bit
limiting
for anything but purely relaxed recreational flying.

=20
What do you seriously thinking its aimed for?? -winning the Open
Class=20
World Championships?

I'm not sure how much it costs new. But I'm sure that for the same
money
y=
ou can get an older and much better performing glider that you could
grow
i=
nto that you COULD eventually race in, if you wanted to, or work on
records=
, or some other performance related soaring activity.


Same could be said about many sailplanes - but its clearly not aimed at
that market is it? -only a fool would think otherwise........

krasw wrote on 8/14/2020 10:20 PM:
You do understand that this is more like 3-axis rigid wing hangglider than real glider? 120 kg empty with 3-6 kWh of batteries gives you half the structural weight of normal glider.


Well ...
-it sure _looks_ like real glider
- with a 40:1 L/D it glides like a real glider
- and a 33.75 kg/m2 max wing loading should give it real glider XC speed.

By comparison, my ASW 20 looked like a real glider, was about 40:1, 36 kg/m2
unballasted, and had real glider XC speed, but no self-launch or rescue system.

Website: https://e-birdy.com/
Brochu https://ebirdycom.files.wordpress.co...birdyx2019.pdf

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1

On 8/14/20 2:40 PM, John Foster wrote:
On Friday, August 14, 2020 at 8:00:04 AM UTC-6, Paul T wrote:
40:1 glide ratio sounds nice, but a VNE of 200km/hr seems a bit limiting
for anything but purely relaxed recreational flying.


What do you seriously thinking its aimed for?? -winning the Open Class
World Championships?

I'm not sure how much it costs new. But I'm sure that for the same money you can get an older and much better performing glider that you could grow into that you COULD eventually race in, if you wanted to, or work on records, or some other performance related soaring activity.


On a good flying day with no towplane or towpilot in sight, this thing
would fly circles around a JS-3 sitting on the ground.

On Saturday, August 15, 2020 at 10:19:52 AM UTC-6, kinsell wrote:
On 8/14/20 2:40 PM, John Foster wrote:
On Friday, August 14, 2020 at 8:00:04 AM UTC-6, Paul T wrote:
40:1 glide ratio sounds nice, but a VNE of 200km/hr seems a bit limiting
for anything but purely relaxed recreational flying.


What do you seriously thinking its aimed for?? -winning the Open Class
World Championships?

I'm not sure how much it costs new. But I'm sure that for the same money you can get an older and much better performing glider that you could grow into that you COULD eventually race in, if you wanted to, or work on records, or some other performance related soaring activity.


On a good flying day with no towplane or towpilot in sight, this thing
would fly circles around a JS-3 sitting on the ground.

LOL!

On Thursday, August 13, 2020 at 10:40:11 AM UTC-4, wrote:
Check this out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...ature=emb_logo

Dan

Talking about electric self-launch gliders, here is one on the other end of the spectrum compared to the Birdy:
https://www.alexander-schleicher.de/...euge/as-34-me/
Do I dare to ask how much this latest development from Poppenhausen costs? Probably a little bit more than the Birdy!

Uli
'AS'

AS wrote on 8/15/2020 6:56 PM:
On Thursday, August 13, 2020 at 10:40:11 AM UTC-4, wrote:
Check this out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...ature=emb_logo

Dan

Talking about electric self-launch gliders, here is one on the other end of the spectrum compared to the Birdy:
https://www.alexander-schleicher.de/...euge/as-34-me/
Do I dare to ask how much this latest development from Poppenhausen costs? Probably a little bit more than the Birdy!


6-7 months ago, the US Schleicher dealer told me it would cost about $190,000 to
have the AS-34, with trailer,instruments, and shipping, delivered to his shop in
California. I don't know what a Birdy costs, but the miniLak and Silent Electro
13.5M gliders were around $120,000-$130,000 similarly equipped and delivered to
the US.

Prices can change, so be sure to check with the dealers!

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1