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A Thread Especially for Thumper
Topic Started: May 29 2016, 06:50 AM (70 Views)
Brewster
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Quote:
 
Electric Trainer Breaks the Flight Barrier

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May 28, 2016

A small Denver, Colorado, manufacturer has rolled out the first prototype of a new all-electric aircraft, suggesting that the same revolution currently sweeping through the auto industry may soon become airborne.

The Sun Flyer, the brainchild of engineer and pilot George Bye and his Aero Electric Aircraft Corp. (AEAC), is designed to be the perfect training aircraft with three hours of endurance and a 30-minute recharging time.

The change could very soon have profound effects on general aviation — a term for the world of private and non-airline aviation — and, one day, proper airlines.

Energy costs for an hour of flight training could be as little as $1, while maintenance costs on an engine with a single moving part could be significantly lower, Bye told Business Insider.

The aircraft has yet to be certified by the Federal Aviation Administration, a long, exhaustive process that Bye believes will be completed within three years.

He also estimates that the final unit cost will initially be about $250,000 per aircraft.

That may sound like a lot for a small, two-seat aircraft, but a new, gasoline-powered Cessna 172 — long the standard in flight training — costs around $300,000, and most flight schools will charge more than $100 per hour for renting one and at least $30 per hour for instruction.
(There's another Example in the Link}
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Thumper
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Wonderful. There are a number of home built electric powered aircraft but they have to remain in the experimental class. There is currently a solar powered aircraft in a round the world flight. Electric power is lighter in weight, form drag is diminished and no volatile av gas is required. Since the motor torque remains constant across the rpms, wonder if a variable pitch prop is needed. Or can the prop be fixed pitch? Aircraft engines are currently going thru a transition to aero diesel engines so the electrics will have some competition, but electric will eventually win the competition. Thanks for the link Brew. Cheers.
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Brewster
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I'm not sure about the whole thing, but electric motors generate most of their torque at low speeds, and max power less than halfway up their power band.

Also they're less efficient at high RPM's.

I would think that with an appropriate variable pitch prop, RPMs would be pretty much fixed at a lower speed than with a piston or turboprop engine, for much lower NVH in all regimes.
Edited by Brewster, May 30 2016, 02:03 AM.
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