{"id":13839,"date":"2020-12-01T19:14:24","date_gmt":"2020-12-02T02:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=13839"},"modified":"2020-12-01T19:14:24","modified_gmt":"2020-12-02T02:14:24","slug":"russian-efly-1a-begins-flight-tests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/russian-efly-1a-begins-flight-tests\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian Efly 1A Begins Flight Tests"},"content":{"rendered":"

Designing and building an airplane is a major undertaking, often taking a decade or more to complete.\u00a0 Aleksey Sychev<\/a> has completed two airplanes and at least two motors out of three planned.\u00a0 Think about that \u2013 our Russian friend has built his own airplanes, motors, controllers, and battery packs.\u00a0 The Russian engineer and teacher has even successfully flown his Efly 1A motor glider.<\/p>\n

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One doesn’t normally equate computer fluid dynamic (CFD) with ultralight aircraft<\/p><\/div>\n

Aleksey recounts the day on his Facebook page<\/a>.\u00a0 \u201cWe tested the Efly-1a motor glider. The declared characteristics were confirmed: 9 take-offs were performed on one battery charge, then 3 flights over the strip. Operating time on a single charge is 5 minutes (3 takeoff and 3 cruise modes are included). This is in numbers. There were unreal feelings. Everything was easy and harmonious, the plane seemed to be telling us: \u201cRelax and enjoy\u201d, and indeed, as soon as you turn on the gas, you feel the pull behind your back. No problem except for a long picnic while charging the battery. With our weak charge, it took about 2 hours, but it could be several times faster.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Marian Mikhailov, one of Aleksey’s students works with the Jet lathe<\/p><\/div>\n

His busy day was the result of efforts starting in 1991 when he was 14 and heard on TV that there would be a homebuilt aircraft rally in Ukraine in the city of Chernigov.\u00a0 His teacher accompanied Aleksey and \u201ca couple of other guys\u201d to this meeting.\u00a0 A year later, Aleksey was flying a paraglider in the Crimea.\u00a0 Later, he was joined by countryman Kirill Balyasny<\/a>, who continues to collaborate with Aleksey.<\/p>\n

Aleksey went on to obtain a degree in aeronautical science, and began teaching others.\u00a0 He even trains students on the use of a small turret lathe used to make electric motor parts.<\/p>\n

Starting with a LAK-16 primary glider<\/a> and a winch, Aleksey and his team began getting in some air time. \u00a0It\u2019s fairly obvious they took their ideas for motorizing the airplane from this simple glider.<\/p>\n